1. technology and computing
2. software
3. databases

Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
12 January, 2015
The human canvas
Toronto’s tattoo community
puts ink to skin
PG. 12
INSIDE
Comment
The question: when is it
necessary to check your
privilege?
Being aware of bias in discourse
PG. 11
Science
“Spray-on” solar panels
developed
Bright future for affordable solar
energy technology
PG. 19
Sports
Students react to the
Goldring Centre
Students discuss new
athletic facility
PG. 21
All layered up
Out of reach
PG. 17
PG. 7
U of T students discuss
fashion on campus
Summer Abroad programs
marred by high costs
2
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
[email protected]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
THE VARSITY
VOL. CXXXV, No. 14
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Danielle Klein
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Catherine Virelli [email protected]
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Shaquilla Singh
Design Editors
Kawmadie Karunanayake
Mari Zhou
[email protected]
Photo Editor
Jennifer Su
[email protected]
Senior Copy Editors
Lucy Genua
Rose Tornabene
[email protected]
News Editor
James Flynn
[email protected]
Comment Editor
Alec Wilson
[email protected]
Features Editor
Samantha Relich
[email protected]
Arts & Culture Editor
Sarah Niedoba
[email protected]
Science Editor
Jasleen Arneja
[email protected]
Sports Editor
Elizabeth Benn
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Illustration Editor
Julien Balbontin [email protected]
Video Editor
Jamieson Wang
[email protected]
Web Developer
Eric Bannatyne
[email protected]
L.I.A. of these lights, who won this year’s Winterfest Battle of the Bands. MASHAL KHAN/THE VARSITY
Associate Design Editor
Janice Liu
Vanessa Wang
Associate Senior Copy Editor
Hunter McGuire
Associate News Editors
Salvatore Basilone
Tamim Mansour
Alex McKeen
Iris Robin
Associate Comment Editors
Emma Kikulis
Victoria Wicks
Associate A&C Editors
Daniel Konikoff
Jacob Lorinc
Associate Science Editor
Nadezha Woinowsky-Krieger
Copy Editors and Fact-Checkers
Fareedah Abdulqadir,Salvatore Basilone, Elisha
Bauer-Maison, Isabela Borges,Madelin
Burt-D’Agnillo, Karen Chu, Alexandra Grieve,
Natasha Hartono, Tigesti Hidru, Younhee Jin, Fu
Yuan (Andrew) Liu, Alex McKeen, Sacha Morettin,
Ashita Parekh, Soham Parelkar, Iris Park, Lauren
Park, Anthony Piruzza, Emaan Thaver
Photographers and
Illustrators
Julien Balbontin, Nathan
Chan, Elena Iourtaeva,
Jessica Lee, Janice Liu,
Mallika Makkar, Alastair
McNamara, Elham Numan,
Jessica Song, Jennifer Su
Cover
Janice Liu, Vanessa Wang, Mari Zhou
Business Office
Business Associate
Parsa Jebely
Advertising Executives
Anna Afshar
Rachel Choi
THE EXPLAINER
Fancy words to impress
your new professors in the
second semester
Kruger Hall, 7:00 pm
Contributors
Jasleen Arneja, Shaan Bhambra, Salvatore
Basilone, Jeffery Chen, Emily Colero, Emma
Compeau, Adit Daga, Caitlyn Fleming, Jonathan
Gass, Karlis Hawkins, Joseph Ianni, Emily Katz,
Daniel Konikoff, Shaile Koranne, Jeremy Li, Jacob
Lorinc, Pouya Makki, Matthew Manhire, Tamim
Mansour, Malone Mullin, Linh Nguyen, Anthony
Piruzza, Iris Robin, Zane Schwartz, Alex Verman,
Brittaney Warren, Sean Xu
Business Manager
Karen Zhou
FROST WEEK EDITION
UTSU & WCSA ART FEST
Associate Web Developer
Ishan Thukral
Designers
Janice Liu, Vanessa
Wang, Mari Zhou
WHAT’S GOING ON THIS WEEK
ON CAMPUS
MONDAY
Associate Sports Editor
Reshara Alviarez
Lead Fact-Checker
Heather Eason, Ujwal
Ganguly, Sean
Smith, Suhas
Srivinasan
Submit your photos to [email protected].
[email protected]
Kick off Frost Week with art and performances by U of T
students. There will be free snacks, beverages, and raffle
prizes. Also, there will be an art gallery, dance, music
performances, fashion show, and more!
TUESDAY
GET INVOLVED, GET HIRED — CLUB & SUMMER JOB FAIR
Varsity Dome 11:00 am—3:00 pm
If you are looking for employment over the summer, representatives
of places looking to hire U of T students will be at this fair.
WEDNESDAY
UNITY THROUGH DIVERSITY FOOD FAIR
Bahen Centre for Technology 12:00—1:00 pm
Eat a yummy cultural lunch for two dollars. All proceeds will go to the
UTSU Food Bank.
THURSDAY
CONCERT — LIGHTS
Hart House Great Hall, doors open at 7:00 pm
LIGHTS will headline this U of T exclusive concert, featuring DJ
Intrinity and other special guests. Enjoy free hot cocoa, prizes, and
two dollar snacks. Valid TCard needed for admission.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
The Varsity is the University of Toronto's largest
student newspaper, publishing since 1880. The
Varsity has a circulation of 20,000, and is published
by Varsity Publications Inc. It is printed by Master
Web Inc. on recycled newsprint stock.
Content © 2015 by The Varsity. All rights reserved. Any
editorial inquiries and/or letters should be directed to
the sections associated with them; emails listed above.
The Varsity reserves the right to edit all submissions.
Inquiries regarding ad sales can be made to
[email protected]. ISSN: 0042-2789
Mellifluous: A word to describe sweet or musical
sounding voices and oratory. This can be used to spice
up the language in your literature essay, or to give a
well-placed compliment to a professor.
Delenda: A word that denotes content that is meant to
be deleted, or has been deleted. Examples include your
resistance to binge-watching Netflix, and the entire first
draft of your homework assignment.
Esurient: A word that means hungry or greedy. This
word is equally appropriate to describe your secondweek-back determination for a 4.0 GPA, and your desire
to run out to the St. George food trucks after a 3 hour
lecture in Sid Smith.
Sycophant: A person who behaves in an excessively
obedient manner toward another person in order to
gain advantage. In addition to bolstering your in-class
vocabulary, knowing this term will also help you in cutthroat family Cranium nights.
Quisquose: A noun for something that is difficult to deal
with. This is an elegant way to tell your professor that
you have no idea what this week’s readings were about.
FRIDAY
LEAGUE OF LEGENDS TOURNAMENT FINALS
Earth Sciences Building, 4:00 pm
Presented by UTSU & UT League of Legends Association, this is
the UTSU’s first ever e-sports event. Includes cosplay, live games,
audience prizes, and a prize pool of over $1,000.
Correction: An article from January 5, titled “Student faces
two charges in relation to hacking incident” stated that the
University of Toronto was the complainant in the case. The
Varsity is not now able to verify this.
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
3
Keeping up with the co-curriculars
Initiative launched in 2013 aims to boost student engagement
Yip, describing the official record of activities
given to each student after they graduate from
high school to use when applying for university.
Salvatore Basilone and Tamim Mansour
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS
THE DATABASE
With a student population the size of a small
city, spread across three campuses separated by
what can be hours of travel time, University of
Toronto students often say it is difficult to find
opportunities on campus.
University administration says that the solution could come in the form of the Co-Curricular Record (CCR). Launched in the fall of 2013,
the CCR is a searchable database of approved
activities at the University of Toronto and an official university record of those activities, with
the goal of helping students identify the skills
they gained to potential employers.
BACKGROUND
The impetus for creating the CCR came from the
findings of an extensive set of student surveys
conducted by the Council on Student Experience across all three U of T campuses in 2009
and 2010. The surveys, identified a need for
the university to “reduce the intimidation factor, particularly in large classes, to encourage
student-faculty interaction,” and to improve
“messaging to encourage co-curricular participation and institutional pride.”
Academic studies have also suggested that
the student experience is improved when students are able to engage with the university
outside the classroom.
The U of T administration sought student input when they started developing the CCR in
2012. “Students sat on the working groups, participated in focus groups, attended town halls,
and engaged in various conversations regarding
how the CCR should be developed,” says Kimberley Elias, the student life coordinator for campus
involvement at U of T, who also notes that the
development process of the CCR is ongoing.
Elias completed her undergraduate degree
at U of T in 2011, and recently completed her
thesis entitled “Employer Perceptions of Cocurricular Engagement and the Co-Curricular
Record in the Hiring Process” for her master’s
degree in higher education.
The CCR is funded as part of the Next Generation Student Information Services, the same
university initiative that created the Safety
Abroad database and that is developing the
new Accessible Campus Online Resource Network (ACORN) system, which is set to replace
ROSi. “There have been minimal costs associated with promotion of the CCR, but no formal
budget,” says Elias, adding, “The program runs,
based on commitment from staff positions.”
Over 4,300 students used the CCR in its first
year. Word of mouth has been an important
factor in promoting the CCR to students, but the
university used other methods as well, such as
videos and a link on ROSI.
BUILDING A RESUME
In researching her thesis, Elias surveyed 110
employers listed on the U of T Career Centre da-
JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY
tabase, and around three-quarters of them said
that they would take the time to review an official record of student’s co-curricular activities.
However, Daniela McNamara, a senior manager for Career Programs at CIBC who is involved
in recruiting fresh graduates, says that, when it
comes to co-curricular activities, she has seen
them only in candidates’ resumes — not on a
CCR. “[In] resumes, it’s fairly brief, in terms of
just explaining that they’re either a member or
executive of a particular club,” she says.
When asked for her opinion on the usefulness of the CCR in assessing candidates, McNamara says that it may not accurately portray the
student’s level of involvement in a particular
activity. “It does give you more information
about what the extra-curricular activity is,”
but added, “it doesn’t tell me exactly what that
individual did.”
McNamara says that she gains the most information on candidates’ experiences with cocurricular activities from interviews; the information gleaned is dependent on the candidate’s
ability to talk about their experiences. “When it
comes to the actual interview, it all depends on
their communication style; some do it really well
and some struggle a little bit,” she explained.
“It’s not just about putting it on your resume,
it’s about understanding that [you] chose this
club, this activity, and these are things [you’ve]
done and skills [you] got from it.”
Elias says that the CCR is meant to help students communicate their experiences and the
skills they have gained to potential employers.
“We envision students using the CCR to help
them write their cover letter and resume, prepare for an interview, and students can attach
the CCR to their application,” she says.
“An employer might not know what a residence don is, but they do know what communication, leadership, and teamwork are — and the
CCR highlights these competencies,” she adds.
Vera Sipicki, a second-year computer science
student, volunteered at University College this
past summer. Though she did not find her position through the CCR, she was shown how
to use it to create an official record of her experiences. “It helps a lot with describing the
skills you acquired through the volunteering
process,” says Sipicki.
Though she has not yet used her record to
apply for a job, she is confident it will help her
in the future. “As you end up getting more experience, once you get enough, it will definitely
be useful for resumes,” says Sipicki.
Nicholas Yip, a second-year mechanical engineering student, says it is good for students to
be able to bring together all of the extra curricular experiences they gained at university into a
single file. “I think it would be great... I am from
Hong Kong, I was studying in secondary school
there and they have something similar,” says
Students can search the CCR database using
over 60 individual filters listed under three
categories specifying the location, type, and
time of activity for which the student is looking. The search result lists the activities along
with more detailed descriptions, hours, and the
sign-up process.
Elias cites this level of detail as one of the
CCR’s strengths, and notes that the search criteria are designed based on student input. “For
example, commuter students talked about how
difficult it is to get involved since many opportunities are after 9 pm. The CCR allows them
to find opportunities Monday-Friday before 5
pm,” she explains.
Elias says the CCR database listed nearly
1,500 campus activities in its first year of operation. It continues to grow —
­ some 4,000 new
activities have been proposed for addition to
the database, though many of these are still
awaiting approval.
“We know that there are still many clubs
that can be included on the CCR, and we will
continue to offer training sessions for the next
academic year,” says Elias.
Student organizations looking to add their
activities to the CCR database must meet the
following criteria: they must specify the
tasks and duties for students to complete;
the activities must allow the student to develop key skills; they must be recognized by
ULife, UTSU, or a divisional student society;
and must include the involvement of a faculty
or staff member.
The faculty member acts as a validator, a role
that can also be filled by a Club Hub, which
is “an office on Campus that brings together
groups with similar interests, such as the Centre for Community Partnerships,” says Elias.
Some have expressed concern that the involvement of validators could threaten the
independence of student societies.
However, Elias stresses that the process for
inclusion in the CCR database is student-driven.
“Students identify what it means to ‘complete’
the opportunity, which is then approved by
a committee primarily comprised of campus
organization leaders,” she says. She also notes
that the required faculty member can be chosen
by the student group, that they only need to
meet 3 times per year, and that their role is one
of support not control. “The CCR is not intended
to take away any group’s independence, but
rather to help facilitate the learning process,
and to add a level of accountability,” says Elias.
While the CCR at U of T continues to grow,
colleges and universities across Canada have
been developing their own co-curricular records. Elias says that around 60 schools have
introduced them so far, including York University, McGill University, and the University
of Alberta.
Rock smashes UTSU office window
Act may have been politically motivated, executives say
Alex Verman
VARSITY STAFF
The window of an office in the University of
Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) building was
smashed on the morning of Tuesday, January 6.
Najiba Ali Sardar, UTSU vice-president, equity, shares the office with Cameron Wathey,
vice-president, internal affairs.
Sardar says that neither she nor Wathey were
in the office at the time of the incident.
The UTSU building, located at 12 Hart House
Circle, has been targeted several times in recent
years, with incidents ranging from egging to a
dead pig being dragged inside the office.
At this time, while Sardar says that she cannot be sure, she believes the act was politically
motivated, citing past incidents of vandalism
at the UTSU office. “This has gone too far,” she
said in a Facebook post, calling it “an example
of the extremely problematic climate at UofT.”
Wathey says that the most recent incident is
nothing new. “We have sent complaints after
complaints to the university [administration],”
he says. “They have told us they will look into it
in person but they have not followed up with it.”
Munib Sajjad, former UTSU president, shared
similar concerns when asked about acts of vandalism that occurred while he was in office last
year. “We have always reported these concerns
with the Vice-Provost Students Office, which is
what we are told to do by central administra-
tion. We even offered to try to support antibullying support workshops prior to Orientation with the administration. There was no
response,” says Sajjad.
Both Sardar and Wathey say they are hopeful that the issue will be solved sooner rather
than later. “We will continue working hard,
and I hope to have a strong last term serving on
the UTSU and ensuring I do whatever I can to
improve the student experience at UofT,” said
Sardar in the Facebook post.
4
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
STREETERS
How are you coping with the first week back?
[email protected]
By Emma Compeau
As 2014 fades out of view
and the winter semester
begins, frigid temperatures
and winter blues are among
the realities faced by students in their transition back
to school. The Varsity asked
students how they are coping
with their first week back.
Nadia
Katherine
Miki
First-year, Master of Information
First-year, Master of Information
“A lot of music and time management.”
“I printed out all of my readings and am planning out work for the rest of the semester.”
“I’m doing pretty well, except for the weather
— I’m wearing three layers of pants!”
Colin
Zachary
Parham
Yasmeen
“Denial.”
“Coffee!”
“I’m taking it as a fresh start — one thing at
a time.”
“I’m working out a lot. I think that the only
time I use the gym at Hart House is in the
first couple of weeks back.”
Photos by Mallika Makkar
Fourth-year, environmental studies
First-year, sciences
Second-year, geophysics
Fourth-year, human biology and animal physiology
Third-year, history
New law allows
Diabolos’ to re-open
UC Food Services to jointly fund cofOntario Ombudsman UCLit,
fee shop for semester
to investigate public
concerns
Grievances against municipalities,
universities, school boards to be addressed
Diabolos’. FILE PHOTO: MALLIKA MAKKAR
Emily Katz
Iris Robin
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
André Marin, Ontario Ombudsman, has
praised the passing of Bill 8, the Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency
Act, 2014, as a positive step towards keeping
the public sector accountable.
The bill will grant Marin the ability to investigate public concerns within municipalities, universities, school boards, hospitals and
long-term care homes, children’s aid societies
and police (MUSH) sector.
“We look forward to finally being able to
help the thousands of complainants who
have come to us from these sectors,” Marin
said in a press release by the Ombudsman
Ontario office.
The changes bring the jurisdiction of Ontario’s Ombudsman up to date with that of
Ombudsmen in other provinces.
Bill 8 is expected to add around 548 bodies, including 443 municipalities, 22 univer-
sities, and 83 school boards, to the offices
Marin already oversees, effectively doubling
their number.
The role of the Ontario Ombudsman is
to address individual complaints and systematically investigate problems with MUSH
services.
The Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario
operates independently under the legislature.
While the Ontario Ombudsman does not
oversee matters dealt with by the City of Toronto Ombudsman, his office will still be able
to conduct investigations related to Toronto
without formal prompting.
In 2013–2014, the Ontario Ombudsman’s
office received 26,999 cases.
Once the government has made the necessary provisions, a date will be set for the Ombudsman’s new jurisdiction to come into force.
A statement released by the Ontario Ombudsman’s office encourages members of the
public looking to make complaints relating to
MUSH services to check social media and the
Ombudsman’s website for updates.
VARSITY STAFF
Coffee will soon be returning to University College’s Junior Common Room.
Diabolos’, the University College staple, is set
to reopen in late January through a joint venture between the University College Literary &
Athletic Society (UCLit) and University College
Food Services.
Eric Schwenger, who was elected UCLit president on October 17, cited getting Diabolos’ back
on its feet as one of his major goals for the year.
The student governing body has partnered
with UC Food Services to fund the coffee shop’s
operations for the remainder of the semester.
The partnership will reportedly allow the
UCLit to purchase supplies and coordinate schedules through Food Services.
The coffee shop, a student-run initiative, will
present an inexpensive alternative to some other
coffee shops on campus.
A UCLit job posting lists the start date for Diabolos’ baristas as January 19, with an end date
of April 17.
Many students were surprised and disappointed to learn of the coffee shop’s closure in the fall
semester. The closure left a “massive void [that]
replaced the warmth and community brought to
the JCR and the college at large,” says Schwenger.
Schwenger says the closure was the result of
“transitional deficiencies” and annual turnovers,
issues faced by many student organizations. He
says the UCLit has worked on expediting the current system “to clean up the loose ends of the
current transitional processes and implement a
more cohesive framework.”
Schwenger says that, when open, students
can expect to purchase food and beverages like
those available at Howard Ferguson Dining Hall
or Reznikoff’s Café.
Schwenger also says that Diabolos’ will continue to offer some of its “niche favourites that
made [it] what it was.”
Part of the process of re-opening Diabolos’ is
gauging which items sell better than others, and
when business tends to peak.
Schwenger says the intention is to “cement
Diabolos’ once and for all next September and
ensure that this kind of thing will never happen again.”
var.st/news
VARSITY NEWS
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
5
Judith Wolfson on recruitment,
funding, U of T’s global role
Wolfson serves as vice-president, international, government and institutional relations
Judith Wolfson. NATHAN CHAN/THE VARSITY
Iris Robin
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Judith Wolfson was recently appointed to the
newly-created role of vice-president, international, government and institutional relations. In this position, she is responsible
for a large portfolio that spans government,
institutional and community relations, international relations, and strategic communications.
Although the University of Toronto does
consistently well in world rankings, it does
not get the attention it deserves, Wolfson
believes. “I mean… here’s this great university in a great city, in a wonderful country.
And we’re so Canadian, we’re modest, and I
don’t think that we have enough airtime if
you will,” she says. “It’s a great university by
everybody’s measure, and yet people don’t
know. So when I go to England and I talk
about U of T, [the reaction is] ‘Is it Texas that
we’re talking about?’” Wolfson laughs. “We
haven’t told our story well enough.”
AT HOME AND ABROAD
International recruitment is arguably one of
the university’s biggest challenges, with international tuition fees on a steady rise.
However, Wolfson does not view the difference between domestic and international
tuition fees to be an obstacle. “I must say that
international tuition fees, I don’t think are a
significant barrier. When you are excellent,
and when you rank with the rest of the world
— whether or not you quibble about a specific
ranking, whether it’s 19, 20 or 21 — if you’re
in the top tier, which the University of Toronto
is, then in fact the issue is ensuring that people
know,” she says.
“Of course we want to ensure that we have
open and accessible university and U of T does
its best to do that,” she adds. “That’s been a
goal for us.”
Wolfson highlights U of T’s status as a research-intensive university, and the key role
that universities play in shaping nations and
peoples, as successes of which people should
be aware.
U of T’s focus on research implies a concentration on graduate studies, with the potential
to detract from undergraduate recruitment.
However, Wolfson does not see it that way.
“If you look at the numbers, in fact it’s much
more undergraduate than graduate, so I think
that’s a fallacy,” she says.
“When you’re a research-intensive university, the opportunities for undergraduates to
do research, to be exposed to the great researchers, who at the University of Toronto,
teach. It’s been a mandate at the University of
Toronto that our finest researchers are in the
classroom,” she says.
Wolfson identifies the combination of academic roles as an advantage for undergraduates. “It’s not about research over here, scholarship over here, and teaching over here,” she
says, “It’s the merger of those that I think enriches us all and I think that’s unique. I don’t
see it as a competition between graduate and
undergraduate.”
With times changing, U of T self-promotes
via online platforms more than ever before.
“There’s been a huge increase in the use of our
website and our use of social media,” Wolfson
says. “It’s a noisy world out there, and we have
a continuing increase in the amount of recognition that we have. What I want to do is make
that even broader. I think we need to ensure
that our whole community knows that — not
specific segments of the community. Now,
when President Gertler travels, he tweets and
makes sure that the community knows. We’re
using Instagram and doing whatever we can
[to get the message out],” she says.
THE UNIVERSITY IN CONTEXT
“President Gertler has made the role of the
university in the city a priority,” Wolfson
says proudly.
She heaps praise upon Gertler, whom she
accompanies on travels. “He is seen with such
respect for his scholarship and his knowledge
of the field [urban geography], let alone his
commitment to post-secondary education.
President Gertler’s priorities are exactly right.
They’re about great universities and great cities going hand in hand,” she says.
In light of U of T’s efforts to specialize, differentiation among universities comes up. In
U of T’s case, this takes the form of differentiation between the three campuses. “I think
you use your assets in a differentiated way and
a specialized way. It’s wonderful that there’s
medicine here and a branch of it at UTM. We
have a campus at Scarborough that is beside
what I think is one of the largest new federal
national parks in the world in the Rouge Valley, and the ability to do environmental science is extraordinary,” Wolfson says.
Wolfson calls the university a “profound
anchor” with a twofold mandate: to create
knowledge and to transfer knowledge. “When
you’re living in a community and in a city, being a part of that city means that’s also your
campus. You transfer knowledge through people, and transferring that knowledge through
relationships; deepening, not just broadening, international relationships, but deepening
them, is a responsibility.”
PROVINCIAL FUNDING
When asked if she plans to pressure the government to increase per-student funding,
Wolfson laughs. “Oh my goodness,” she says.
“Well, let’s talk about student funding.”
Wolfson refers to a recent article in U of T
Magazine in which Gertler claims “U of T truly
defies gravity” — its rankings remain strong,
while its provincial funding does not.
Ontario currently has the highest average
university tuition fees and the lowest perstudent funding of any Canadian province.
“I used to be in the government. I really do
understand the pressures, and of course we all
know about the deficit,” Wolfson says.
She has 10 years of government experience
under her belt, having previously worked as a
deputy minister in intergovernmental affairs,
economic development, trade and tourism,
and consumer and commercial relations.
To Wolfson, funding is not a matter of pressuring the government; it is about showing
that funding is an investment, not an expenditure. “It’s an investment in today and it’s an investment in the future. I try and tell the story
of how important it is and why this particular
university needs a specific kind of funding to
achieve the results that we all want,” she says.
“I think, being fair, the province understands. The issue is ‘how do you divide your
revenue?’ It really is important for them to understand the outcome measures of investment
in post-secondary education,” says Wolfson.
Wolfson observes that U of T contributes by
producing graduates, but also as an employer of
staff and students, making an enormous contribution to the economy and to the community.
“It’s not just that they’re giving and we’re
taking, it’s that we’re contributing. That’s the
understanding that I hope government can
achieve... that this is a partnership that adds
huge value to Ontario. As opposed to giving it
to us to spend, they’re investing.” Wolfson says.
At half-past three, Wolfson’s assistant
knocks on the door to remind her of her next
engagement. “I have a meeting, but I’ve got a
few minutes,” Wolfson says. “It is so important
that every single student who comes has an
opportunity to thrive. The more we can get
that story out, the better.”
6
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
[email protected]
Out of order
Outages, maintenance plague Blackboard during exam season
Brittaney Warren
VARSITY STAFF
“Portal Service Outage” messages, scheduled maintenance, and generally slower
service plagued the university’s Blackboard
service over the December exam period.
Between December 4 and December 10,
Portal experienced at least three service outages, while UTORmail experienced at least
one. Most of the outages lasted from one to
two hours.
While technical staff did not elaborate,
the University of Toronto is reassuring students that the issue was promptly resolved.
“During a short period in early December, the University’s Learning Management
System (the Portal) was very slow for some
users. U of T’s IT staff and the Blackboard
support team worked around the clock to
successfully identify the source of the problem,” says Avi Hyman, director of academic
and collaborative technology.
Although the December outages went unnoticed by many students, there was concern over how consistent Blackboard outages
could potentially impact academic performance, particularly during exam periods.
“There have been times when it’s been
out the night before an exam, and then you
don’t have access to it. You hope that your
[professor] is going be understanding,” says
Michelle Woodhouse, a third-year environmental and Latin American studies student,
adding: “I think it could have the potential
to affect academic performance.”
While not every professor chooses to use
Blackboard, many students rely on its services to access their syllabi and additional
materials not included in course textbooks.
“One of my course professors puts up supplemental material on Blackboard. Not being able to access that material could be
a disadvantage, especially around exam
times,” says Nicole*, a third-year health and
disease student.
Chris*, a third-year history student, also
says it’s important for the university to ensure the reliability of Blackboard services.
“It affects upper-year courses more because
classes are smaller and more discussionbased, like seminars, so students rely on the
syllabus that’s supposed to be accessible on
Blackboard,” says Chris.
Many students also stated that they were
unable to access their grades during the
month of December.
INTUITIVE DESIGN
The University of Toronto currently uses
Blackboard Learn 9.1, the most recent Learning Management System (LMS) product offered by Blackboard for its higher education
clients. The product is advertised as a studentcentred LMS system with an intuitive design,
boasting several efficient teaching features.
Efficient teaching features include the opportunity for professors to easily create and
grade assessments, give real-time feedback,
and create engaging content without any programming experience.
Global navigation, updates and notifications,
collaborative spaces, and mobile capabilities
are among the features targeting students.
Skepticism of Blackboard’s user-friendliness, however, is pervasive; students have expressed a disconnect between how professors
and students understand the learning system.
“We, as students, expect a certain efficiency and consistency with it [Blackboard],
but TAs [teaching assistants] and professors
struggle with it. It’s user friendly for students, but not user friendly for professors
or TAs,” says Woodhouse, adding: “TAs and
professors don’t seem to have had a proper
walk-through tutorial for performing the
functions they want to on Blackboard. For
the most part, it works out, but sometimes it
seems like an annoyance for the people that
ALASTAIR MCNAMARA/THE VARSITY
have to administer the course on the Blackboard website.”
Blackboard is among the most competitive
Learning Management Systems in the North
American education market.
The company offers online educational
products to elementary schools, government,
and businesses, in addition to higher learning institutions.
UNDER REVIEW
The University of Toronto is currently undergoing a comprehensive review of its educational technology, citing a criteria overview
as the focus.
The Academic Toolbox Renewal Initiative
seeks to create a holistic set of common criteria that would be easily consumable for instructors and the various departments.
The review includes, but is not limited to,
Blackboard. “The University of Toronto’s
enterprise educational technology ecosystem (our Academic Technology Toolbox)
has grown organically over the past several
years. The renewal process will take a holistic approach by reviewing the Toolbox in its
entirety,” says Hyman.
The Academic Toolbox Renewal Initiative invites students to give their input. “We are currently in the midst of our Academic Toolbox
Renewal Initiative, and all members of the University, especially students, are being invited to
comment on the future of educational technologies here at U of T,” adds Hyman.
Many of the university’s current technologies are scheduled for renewal in 2015.
*Names changed at students’ requests.
U of T student places third in World
University Debating Championships
Veenu Goswami, a previous national champion, began debating in junior high school
Emma Compeau
VARSITY STAFF
Veenu Goswami, left. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HART HOUSE DEBATING CLUB
From December 26 to January 3, three teams
of debaters from the Hart House Debating Club
(HHDC) travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to
compete in the World University Debating Championships (WUDC).
Two debaters from U of T placed in the top
10 speakers, with Joe McGrade named ninth
best speaker and Veenu Goswami named third
best speaker.
This year, the WUDC hosted 410 teams from
around the world, with a maximum of three
teams and two judges allowed per institution.
Hosted by the The Debate Society of the Universiti Technologiki Mar, the WUDC is a parliamentary debating event held using the British
Parliamentary Debate format.
Next year, the event will be held at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki, Greece. The HHDC attends the championship each year.
According to Kaleem Hawa, HHDC treasurer,
team spots are awarded based on competitive
success.
Goswami and McGrade’s results in Malaysia follow a year of debating success for the
team, whose recent accomplishments include
winning the Oxford Invitational Tournament
and tying for best speaker at the Cambridge
Invitational Tournament.
Goswami, a law student, was also ranked the
top speaker at the Oxford tournament, and is a
previous national champion in Canada.
He has been a member of the Hart House
Debate Club for five years, and began debating in Calgary.
“I think the most important skill is being a
good listener. The way to become a good debater
is by being responsive. It’s less about being aggressive and more about to adjusting to other
people,” Goswami says when asked about the
most important skill for success in debating.
At the WUDC, Goswami and McGrade debated
topics including whether or not medical professionals should refuse to treat victims of torture,
as well as the merits of tightly integrated families.
According to Goswami, the pair excels on motions relating to politics and economics.
“Debating at U of T has been an incredible experience which has helped me in so many ways.
It has helped me to meet people at U of T who
share my interest, and has given me many skills
that are useful both in class discussions and in
life,” Goswami said.
Goswami said that this year’s championships
marks the third time that he has been in the
tournament.
Although the WUDC has a limit of four attendances per person, Goswami would not
confirm whether or not he will attend the
championship again.
VARSITY NEWS
var.st/news
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
7
High costs pose barrier for
Summer Abroad programs
Cost for certain programs approaches $10,000
Republic on the Central Europe Program. “I got
a chance to meet some really amazing people
… [to] get to know my professor … and [to] do
some hands on research,” she says.
“[The program] definitely inspired me to
continue studying political science at a time
when I was feeling a little disillusioned with
the program,” Sahal says.
Melissa Clancy, also a fourth-year student,
participated in the Italy program. “I mainly
wanted to go to Italy and found the course
[Modern Italian Culture] was a great way to
ease into traveling,” she says.
“A lot of the traveling is planned for you,” Clancy adds, “so it was easier to sell to my parents.”
Travel is a core part of all programs, with numerous field trips planned for all participants.
FEES
The Centre for International Experience. FILE PHOTO: MALLIKA MAKKAR/THE VARSITY
Jonathan Gass
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Every year, hundreds of students participate
in the University of Toronto’s Summer Abroad
program, and hundreds more are interested in
studying abroad, whether through an international U of T program or independently.
Despite this interest, with application deadlines approaching, many students say cost prevents them from applying.
Since its foundation in 1972, the program
has grown steadily, and now offers 35 classes in
17 different countries. U of T students past and
present in good academic standing, in addition
to students at other North American universities
who may enroll as visiting students, are eligible.
“The Summer Abroad program… was designed to facilitate students’ cross-cultural
learning, and add to the diversity of students’
academic experiences,” says professor Joseph
Desloges, Woodsworth College principal.
“LIVING TEXTBOOK”
The Summer Abroad Program, which differs
from the semester-long and year-long student
exchanges offered by the Centre for International Experience (CIE), as well as the international activities offered by the International
Programs and Partnerships Office in the Faculty of Arts & Science, allows students to complete a U of T credit in 3–6 weeks.
The 35 classes offered are diverse, ranging
from commerce courses in South Korea, to
physics courses in Switzerland, to conservation biology courses in Ecuador.
Students may apply to a maximum of two
Summer Abroad programs.
Aishwarya Sahal, a fourth-year student, travelled to the Moravian city of Brno in the Czech
According to the Summer Abroad website, the
cheapest of the programs offered is the Science
Abroad option, which includes courses in Hungary, China, and Taiwan. Disregarding medical
insurance and spending money, Science Abroad
costs $4,452 for domestic students and $5,607
for international students.
On the other hand, the environmental science course offered in Australia is the most expensive of the programs offered, totalling about
$9,908 for domestic students and $11,063 for
international students — due, in part, to the
hefty $3,825 price tag for airfare.
International students pay more because,
unlike domestic students, their fees are not
supplemented by the per-student operating
grant the Canadian government provides to
the university.
All applicants also pay a $200 application fee.
Admitted students who choose to withdraw at a
later date are not refunded, while unsuccessful
students receive a full refund.
“A lot of students come to university on a
tight budget… and $200 is definitely a lot,”
says Sahal. However, she admitted that going
abroad is “a pretty big deal” that requires a lot
of planning and preparation. “It could be a way
to narrow down the students who are really
motivated to go abroad,” she suggests.
For his part, Desloges maintains that the
$200 application fee is to ensure that students
who apply for the program intend to participate
if they are admitted.
RESTRICTIONS ON FUNDING
The Summer Abroad program acknowledges
the potentially off-putting cost of going abroad.
To combat this, they offer a number of awards,
scholarships, and bursaries.
According to Desloges, 100 students received
Summer Abroad awards and bursaries last year.
However, some students noted the fact that
certain colleges and/or programs of study offer
more awards than others. For instance, of the
awards, scholarships, and bursaries detailed
on the Summer Abroad website, five are reserved for, or give preference to, Woodsworth
College students. In addition, the St. George’s
Society Award for study in the United Kingdom through a U of T program is reserved for
students at Trinity College, Victoria College, or
Massey College.
The Summer Abroad program in England
is one of the oldest and largest programs, offering nine awards to domestic undergraduate
students who have documented financial need.
Programs in the United Arab Emirates, South
Korea, and Peru offer two awards.
All domestic students may receive financial
assistance through student loans or Summer
Abroad Bursaries. Some colleges offer other
awards, detailed on their websites.
International students, visiting students,
and alumni are not permitted to apply for
financial assistance.
Arts & Science faculty to implement new
online system
Course Information System to streamline course details for Arts & Science students
Emily Colero
VARSITY STAFF
The Faculty of Arts & Science is taking steps
to make course information more comprehensive for students at the St. George campus
who are frequently overloaded at the beginning of new terms.
Members present at a recent Arts & Science
Council meeting discussed a Course Information System (CIS) for students and faculty.
Currently, course instructors must submit
grading schemes to the Faculty of Arts & Science, including due dates, assignments, and
weighting of grades prior to course enrolment.
They are also required to submit information
about exams and the final exam paper four
weeks before the start of exams.
According to Suzanne Stevenson, vice-dean
of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Arts
& Science, the aim of the CIS is to streamline
these details for students.
“The Course Information System will make
it much easier for students to review required
course information, including the instructor’s
syllabus and marking scheme, by presenting
the info in a consistent and accurate format
early each semester,” says Stevenson.
With the new system, course instructors
will submit all required course information
to the Faculty of Arts & Science electronically.
The chair, or chairs designate, will review the
information and the applicable information
will be made available for students through
the same portal.
This will replace the current process used for
approval of marking schemes by the chair or
chairs designate, as well as the system used to
submit final exam details and the final exam
paper, which is currently submitted to the Office of the Faculty Registrar.
Students will reportedly be able to use the
Course Information System to find information
similar to what is found on many class syllabi.
The faculty also recommends that course instructors submit course descriptions, required
texts and material, marking policy and protocol, accessibility accommodations, sessional
dates, missed test policies, academic integrity
messages, online communication policies, and
extra details about final exams.
Stevenson says that the new system will benefit instructors as well as students.
“The system will enable instructors and staff
to free up time spent on administrative processes so that they can spend their time doing
what matters to them the most: engaging with
students and providing outstanding learning
Sidney Smith Hall. FILE PHOTO: ELENA IOURTAEVA/THE VARSITY
opportunities,” she says.
The system will only be available for Arts &
Science students, but Stevenson says that the
faculty is “happy to share [their] IT efforts with
other divisions if they are interested.”
The Faculty of Arts & Science is also looking
into improving other online systems such as
Degree Explorer and Course Finder.
A date has not yet been set for the rollout of
the new system.
8
VARSITY NEWS
Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
[email protected]
Co-op at UTSC: who benefits?
Employability prospects vary widely among
U of T experiential learning programs
Alex McKeen
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
The first time Esmeralda Bukuroshi had a co-op
work term as part of her program at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus (UTSC), she
tutored at Centennial College.
Bukuroshi is now in her fifth year of a biological chemistry program at UTSC, having recently
completed a 15-month research-based work
term in Calgary with NOVA Chemicals Corporation. Though the work term was already long at
12 months, she liked the position so much that
she stayed on for an extra three months before
returning to her studies.
Bukuroshi chalks up the success of her past
co-op opportunity to luck of the draw. “It was the
second job I applied to, and... the first interview
that I got. It worked out very well, but I don’t
think it happens for everybody,” she explains.
There are several factors at play within the
UTSC co-op program that can make or break a
student’s experience. While students in certain
programs such as management have wide access to placements and administrative support,
others must fend for themselves to access work
opportunities relevant to their areas of study.
Meanwhile, at the St. George and UTM campuses, available experiential learning opportunities are not as widely known.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
ADVANCEMENT
The UTSC co-op program has been in operation
for 40 years. Co-op is an option for both Arts
and Science and Management students at the
Scarborough campus.
Approximately 2,100 UTSC students are currently enrolled in co-op programs.
Students either enter co-op in their first year,
or apply to transfer to the co-op program later on.
Kanwar Gill, president of the Co-op Students’
Association (CSA) and a fourth year computer
science co-op student, says that co-op is sometimes seen as a positive way to bolster transcripts. “Most of the students in my program
have a GPA that’s not the highest [nor] the lowest,
so if you have a co-op to complement that, it’s
an asset for your resume,” says Gill.
This is a common response from co-op participants, including Gill, who feel that having
tangible work experience upon graduation provides an employability advantage. Gill says that
many co-op students develop relationships with
their co-op employers while in school, that can
sometimes translate into job offers after graduation. According to Gill, the companies which
students complete a co-op placement with will
likely hire them afterwards.
Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T director of
media relations, says that quality placements
like those described by Gill and Bukuroshi are
common throughout the Scarborough campus program. “UTSC students find meaningful placements with top employers including
Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, CIBC, Scotiabank,
RBC, Telus, The Hospital for Sick Children,
Deloitte and various government ministries,”
Blackburn-Evans says.
All co-ops through UTSC are paid.
Blackburn-Evans also points out that the UTSC
co-op program continues to grow, and that students are finding placements despite a difficult
job market.
LUCK OF THE DRAW
The lucrative options that Blackburn-Evans describes, however, pertain to certain programs
more than others. Gill observes that the management co-op program is more “rigorous,” and
many Arts & Science co-op students are taking
computer science or math programs.
According to Gill, there are many companies
that call for computer science students through
the department website, which is the standard way
to connect UTSC co-op students with employers.
Gill says that co-op students in certain other
Arts & Science programs, such as linguistics,
have more trouble in this stage. “It can be the
case that... they don’t find jobs pertaining to their
program specifically,” Gill says.
In this case, Gill says it is contingent upon students to network on their own, and some students
are referred to potential employers individually
by the co-op department.
Bukuroshi says that the amount of support she
received from the department was relatively high.
While working at her co-op placement in Calgary,
she says that a co-op advisor from UTSC — who
was in Calgary for a conference — arranged a
meeting with her and her employer to check in.
Bukuroshi also describes having applied to a
wide range of jobs for her first co-op term, think-
JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY
ing that all experience was of equal worth.
However, she found that when she was only
offered a position at Centennial College, she was
required to accept it.
This experience motivated Bukuroshi to get involved in the CSA and advise new co-op students
to apply to jobs more selectively.
The CSA also provides feedback to the co-op
department through regular surveys. Gill says
that a common concern among students is that
the department does not reply to communications in an efficient way.
Bukuroshi also points out that, during co-op
terms, students are required to pay fees to the
university equivalent to one course load.
NAVIGATING THE HIDDEN OPTIONS
While Bukuroshi and Gill suggest improvements
to the UTSC co-op programs through their involvement with the CSA, St. George and UTM
students question the absence of experiential
learning options on their campuses. Erin Bionda,
a third year Rotman Commerce student, says she
is “surprised and disappointed” by the lack of
co-op options at the St. George campus.
Bionda says that gaining hands-on experience
can be fiercely competitive without the help of
a university sanctioned co-op program. “In the
business program, everyone competes for the
summer internships. But a lot of companies
aren’t willing to pay for interns, and it’s illegal
to have unpaid workers if they’re not earning
school credit,” Bionda says.
The lack of Rotman Commerce co-op opportunities can also affect some students’ decision to attend U of T or go elsewhere. Bionda
describes her experience as a mentor talking to
high school students, some of whom cited co-op
as an important consideration in choosing the
institution they would ultimately attend.
Bionda has also taken advantage of one of the
newest experiential learning options at U of T,
the 2014–2015 Internship in New Ventures, a
course that connects students with technology
start-ups at the Impact Centre.
Bionda says that, while she has had a great
experience in the course, it may not be relevant
to all interests since placements are confined
to start-ups.
As Blackburn-Evans points out, experiential
learning options exist on all three U of T campuses. She describes experiential learning as a
“key institutional strength” of the university.
Experiential learning programs — such as the
Professional Experience Year (PEY), which provides a full-time job that lasts 12 to 16 months
— were coupled with the UTSC co-op program as
a core priority in the university’s 2014 Strategic
Mandate Agreement with the government of
Ontario. However, computer science and engineering students tend to be the main benefactors
of the PEY program.
NEWS IN BRIEF
3D printing technology facilitates
prosthetic rehabilitation in Uganda
In response to a lack of prosthetic technicians
in Uganda, University of Toronto professor Matt
Ratto has collaborated with NGO Christian Blind
Mission Canada and private partner Autodesk
Research on the 3D PrintAbility Project.
The project has sent 3D printing technology to
Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Uganda
(CoRSU) to equip children with prosthetic limbs.
Technicians use a device to scan the limbs —
converting them to data that is processed by
computer graphics software programs — then
design the socket for the prosthetic limb, which
can be printed after six to nine hours.
As CoRSU’s initial trials indicate that there is
potential for cultural revisions to the technology, Ratto and his team will travel to Uganda in
January to train and collaborate with the CoRSU
team.
3D printing technology is an inexpensive
rehabilitation method which helps to address
the deficit in prosthetic technicians in developing countries.
— Clara Osei-Yeboah
With files from The Toronto Star
Charges dropped against Mississauga student accused of mischief
on Air Canada flight
Members of controversial Dalhousie University Facebook group to
attend separate classes
Two counts of mischief have been dropped
against Sohill Agha, a 23-year-old who was arrested after being accused of uttering disturbing comments “about bombs” in a telephone
conversation on an Air Canada flight to London
in September.
Agha was on his way to study law at the University of Leicester at the time.
He says that the experience of being arrested
and having to postpone his studies has cost him.
“It’s a trial that stopped my dream of studying
law, a dream that has been stopped in a rather
uncanny way,” Agha said in a public statement.
Agha’s lawyer Saron Gebresellassi says the
case was a misunderstanding, and that racial
profiling was involved.
Gebresellassi says that the comments overheard by airplane passengers were uttered on
the other end of the phone line — not by Agha
himself.
Agha is working on getting his tuition refunded for the term he missed as a result of the trial.
Dalhousie University dentistry students involved
in the controversial “Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen” Facebook group are to attend separate classes from the rest of their classmates, the university
announced on Friday.
The students will not resume classes until
January 12.
On January 5, the university temporarily suspended thirteen students involved in the group
from clinical activities.
The controversy surrounding the Facebook
group has rocked the university, with some calling on Dalhousie president Richard Florizone to
expel the students involved.
“It’s obviously been a tough month for our university, for our community; obviously most directly
for the women who were most directly targeted in
these posts,” Florizone said at a press conference.
Despite backlash, the university has pressed
forward with a “restorative justice” process that
prioritizes discussion between the two sides.
Florizone has said that expulsion has not been
ruled out.
— Alex McKeen
With files from The Toronto Star
— James Flynn
With files from CBC News
Virgin, MaRS partner on $1 million
venture fund
Virgin Groups founder Sir Richard Branson
has announced that the company’s non-profit
branch, Virgin Unite Canada, is partnering with
MaRS on a $1 million impact venture fund.
The fund, which is jointly supported by Virgin Unite Canada and Mindset Social Innovation Foundation, a Vancouver-based NGO, will
support early-stage Canadian entrepreneurs
working on current social and environmental
issues.
MaRS plans to fundraise up to $5 million this
year, while Virgin Unite will chip in an additional $500,000.
“Our partnership with MaRS will support inspiring entrepreneurs with the mentoring, training and investments they need to succeed,” said
Branson at the fund announcement.
The collaboration will also enhance support
for Canadian entrepreneurs by creating an online program that connects new entrepreneurs
with more experienced mentors.
— Emily Colero
Comment
VAR.ST/COMMENT
12 JANUARY 2015
[email protected]
Grades don’t define you
JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY
The current model of evaluating students fails to reflect their true potential
Karlis Hawkins
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Some students are dissuaded from pursuing a
subject area that they enjoy by the possibility
of receiving low grades. Our current grading
system is antiquated and does not provide a
legitimate evaluation of individuals. Rather,
it represents a flawed method by ranking students in a standardized mold of institutionalized education.
Unfortunately, the free and compulsory
education system North Americans grow
up in cannot trace its ideological roots back
to an altruistic government interested in
promoting open discussion, debate, and
free thought.
Learning can be one of the most inspiring
and rewarding activities in life. So why do
most people equate learning with boredom
and monotony? Why is it that many children
fake being sick to avoid going to school? By
and large, institutionalized education fails to
accommodate people's idiosyncrasies, such as
different learning speeds, socio-economic sit-
uations, learning styles, or personality types.
It is a one-size-fits-all approach to learning,
which all too often teaches students to memorize rather than think for themselves.
For example, the normative grading system used in North American universities sets
a distribution of grades before the semester
begins, thereby preemptively categorizing
students. Professors aim for their class averages to be within a range that shows that
the course is neither too easy nor too hard.
This system is not about creating a positive
learning experience, nor a personal one —
students are often graded on a relative scale,
rather than one that accurately evaluates their
individual performance.
The traditional grading system teaches students to be overly competitive at a time when
society desperately needs its best and brightest to work cooperatively and collaborate to
find solutions to pressing issues, from cancer research to global climate change. The
current model demoralizes individuals by
labelling people subjectively with letter or
percentage grades that reflect little about
an individual’s ability or value beyond their
basic capacity to memorize and regurgitate.
Grades can cause students to become extremely stressed, when education should
generate excitement.
What’s more, institutionalized education
places an inordinate emphasis on weighted
exams, wherein students are called upon at
the end of every semester to collectively spew
what they can remember from the syllabus.
Realistically, exam results more accurately
reflect an individual’s ability to work within
the format of the test than they do a student’s
ability to think critically. Students are often
required to memorize facts that will change
over time, like the population of a city. The
grading system does not usually reward students for relating course material to relevant
topics or issues from sources outside of the
curriculum. Clearly, exams in this format
do not measure one’s ability to analyze, but
rather to memorize.
Of course, any condemnation or criticism of our current system of evaluating
students must go hand in hand with a
thankful appreciation for all that is right
and good with modern education in North
America. Many countries have little access
to educational resources and high-quality
teachers. In that way, we are truly privileged, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t
strive for progress.
As students, we all have so much potential
that is too often undervalued or glossed over
by institutionalized education. Don’t let your
grades define you. Free thought is of more
value than any marks, degrees, or professional
titles that you acquire. It is time to shed these
old values and antiquated systems in favour
of a method of learning that allows for more
autonomy, enjoyment, and fulfillment.
With the emergence of open source learning platforms, the advent of technology, and
increased access to the Internet worldwide,
traditional educational institutions may become unnecessary. Hopefully, U of T will be
able to keep up with these advancements and
adapt to emerging values, lest the institution
erode slowly into obsolescence.
Karlis Hawkins is a third-year student at Trinity College majoring in geography and environmental studies, with a minor in political science.
10 Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
VARSITY COMMENT
[email protected]
Unpaid internships are exploitative;
they are holding Canada back
It is time for the country to replicate the UK and US’ policies on unpaid work
Column
Zane Schwartz
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
In June 2013, CBC reported that Bell Mobility
kept a warehouse in Mississauga where 280
young people worked (more than full-time
hours) without pay. In a separate building
from the paid employees, unpaid interns say
they did menial tasks like phone surveys, and
were consistently pressured to work overtime,
sometimes as late as 3:00 am.
Bell is one of many Canadian companies that
could pay their interns but choose not to. After
all, Bell Canada Enteprises enjoyed a $708-million profit in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 46
per cent increase over 2012.
Canada is awash in unpaid interns: we have
approximately 300,000 of them. The United
Kingdom, which has roughly twice the population of Canada, has around 100,000 unpaid
interns. That isn’t the only difference between
the two countries, however.
The UK’s parliament voted overwhelmingly
to ban unpaid internships, and Prime Minister
David Cameron has quadrupled the fines for
businesses that take advantage of young people.
By contrast, our lawmakers have done little,
allowing a solid chunk of the next generation
to work without pay.
In the short term, not paying approximately
300,000 young workers means students will
take longer to pay off their loans, and parents
will delay retirement as they continue to support their children.
Over the span of decades, though, unpaid
internships delay adulthood. People without
an income can’t afford to start a family or buy
a home. They don’t pay income taxes, although
they still use tax money through social services.
They certainly don’t have the financial security for bold investment or innovative entrepreneurship that the Canadian economy needs
to thrive.
And it’s not as if the rest of the economic outlook for this generation is particularly positive.
Youth unemployment has hovered stubbornly
around double the national average since 2008.
Almost half of those who are employed work
part-time, not earning enough to live on. The
work that isn’t part-time tends to be temporary or contract-based, without the benefits or
stability that allowed previous generations to
get started.
Unpaid internships are the simplest part of
this problem, and one that is very easy to fix
— mostly we just need to enforce existing laws
that already make them illegal.
Many companies who choose not to pay their
interns are incredibly profitable. Bell is just one
company that simultaneously enjoys huge profits and brands itself as quintessentially Canadian, but didn’t bother to pay young Canadians
in their employ. Roots Canada advertised two
five-month unpaid internships for candidates
who, preferably, already had an undergraduate
degree. Rogers had many unpaid interns until
quite recently, when they, along with a number
of magazines, were caught up in a crackdown
by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.
Even the federal government doesn’t pay
some of its interns. If you want to get in the
fast track for a job in the Foreign Service with a
prestigious internship in China or Washington
D.C., you’d better to be able to live overseas for
about six months without getting paid a cent.
Although recent reports indicate that there
are ever more unpaid interns in Canada and
that they are frequently exploited, there are
some positive signs. Saskatchewan and Ontario
are starting to enforce existing law, insisting
that young people who work must be paid for
it. Alberta is facing sustained pressure to do
the same, and there are nascent movements
in several other provinces.
Even the federal government is responding
to public pressure, announcing funding for
3,000 paid interns. Lawsuits for back wages are also on the rise, with several young
people winning salaries from employers who
should have paid them, and many more cases pending resolution.
However, more must be done. It’s not just the
United Kingdom that’s far ahead of us — the
United States Department of Labor has been
comparatively aggressive for years in prosecuting employers who exploit unpaid interns.
Both countries, with very similar economies to
our own, recognized that unpaid internships
are immoral long ago. They’ve now realized
that unpaid internships are dragging down
their economy. If we want to remain competitive, it’s past time we started doing the same.
Zane Schwartz is a fourth-year history student
who contributes to The Globe and Mail and Maclean’s. He was The Varsity’s news editor last
year. His column appears bi-weekly.
Broke? Don’t just blame the system
Students need to take more of an active role in planning their financial futures
Malone Mullin
VARSITY STAFF
If there is any common source of petulance
to be found amongst students today, it is being broke.
Post-secondary tuition has grown 600 per
cent faster than inflation in the last 20 years
and, combined with decreased funding, the
result has deepened our empty pockets. Although it is defensible to hold governments
and universities accountable for our personal
money problems, it is not justification enough
to reject personal financial responsibility.
In my first year of university, I moved
into a basement apartment with my partner. I covered half the rent and food on a
minimum wage. Working full-time, I had no
money left over for tuition, but I didn’t think
I had to worry since I had been told repeatedly that government loans are provided to
those in need.
As it turns out, however, the allocation of
these loans is conditional. Even though I was
not receiving financial aid from my family, I
was still considered a dependent student. It
wasn’t until I paid hundreds of dollars in interest to U of T and took two years off that I
began to receive full assistance. By that time,
I had spent $9,000 for a year of average marks,
three credits, and a lot of anguish.
Stories like mine contribute to a mentality
of financial non-responsibility: as students,
we’ll be poor no matter what. If we’re deep in
debt, it is the fault of cowardly legislators and
greedy administrators, and there’s nothing to
be done but complain. I lost time and money
due to this very attitude. Had I realized that
simply waiting until I fit the Ontario Student
Assistant Program’s (OSAP)'s criteria would
end up costing much less, I wouldn't be in so
much debt now.
For future advice, I spoke to Preet Banerjee
about student money management. Banerjee
is a UTSC graduate and financial advisor who
writes a weekly column for The Globe and
Mail. He agrees that it’s tough to be a student, but it's no excuse to perpetuate hardship through ignorance.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to
debt, but there are some universal rules,”
Banerjee explains. “If you have lots of debt,
you’re going to want to put more emphasis on
paying it off at first.”
Then make a future forecast, he continues.
If you’re a debt-averse person, you’re going to
want to pay it off quickly. If you don’t mind
the monthly payments, it may be in your
interest to put your income towards appreciable assets, such as further education or
real estate. Since OSAP loans have deductible
interest — you can receive a tax refund in
some cases — carrying loans for the full 15year maximum is a viable possibility. Debt
isn’t necessarily harmful, as long as it’s put
towards assets that are likely to grow in value
over time.
Banerjee warned against irresponsible
purchases. Reasonable indulgence is acceptable, especially once a solid monthly budget
is in place, but spending the remainder of a
U of T Advanced Planning for Students grant
on a Cancun getaway is not easily warranted.
Rather, if travel is a necessity, working or
studying abroad can fulfill the same need
with greater payoff.
Above all, recognizing that saving up for
purchases costs less in the long run is what
Banerjee calls “the cardinal rule” of personal finance. When you borrow from banks or
credit companies, you’re effectively borrowing from your future — you’re taking your
expected increase in income and spending
it now. But because interest is involved, over
a lifetime this practice can end up costing
JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY
tens of thousands of dollars. Making compromises by setting priorities according to
individual budgets is key to getting what we
want out of life without digging ourselves
any deeper.
While I’m still fuming over OSAP rules that
disadvantage low-income students, it’s also
my own fault for cultivating a mindset of mon-
etary submission. Researching my options and
then spending those two wasted years travelling and gaining experience, rather than working merely to pay off interest payments, would
certainly be the way I’d do it over again.
Malone Mullin is a third-year philosophy
specialist.
var.st/comment
VARSITY COMMENT
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
11
When is it necessary to for us to
‘check our privilege’?
The Question
JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY
If you are going to speak up, consider where
your ideas come from
Shaileen Koranne
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Some have advantages that other people
do not have, and have probably had them
since very early on in their lives. These are
benefits that certain portions of the population have, while others do not, based on
factors such as gender, race, economic situation, place and country of residence, ability, or even less objective things such as
your appearance or weight.
If you are a white man who has identified
as a man for your whole life, you can’t know
precisely what it’s like to be a man, woman,
or transgender person of colour. Since birth,
your life has been shaped in such a way that
you don’t have to think about your gender or
your race very often. That is the most harmful thing about having privilege — if you
have it, you rarely have to think about that
aspect of your life.
I get it — no one likes being silenced. That’s
why a lot of people just stay silent from the
beginning when it comes to debates about
social justice. However, if you are going to
speak up, make sure that what you’re saying
isn’t getting in the way of some groups and
their advocacy to reach a level of safety that
you have had since you were born.
Being told to check your privilege is not
the same as being told to shut up, nor does
it mean that your opinion is inherently any
less necessary. Rather, it’s a plea from more
marginalized people for you to step back,
evaluate the advantages you have in life
that are swaying your argument, and then
reconsider what you’re saying.
Being told to check your privilege is not
forcing you to be politically correct; it’s
asking you to come to terms with the fact
that you live an easier life than a lot of other people without even knowing it. Check
your privilege and be aware of it whenever
you can. It’s not difficult to appreciate what
you have, and make sure you don’t let it
skew the way you view the world.
If someone asks you to check your privilege, do it. Try to see something from a
point of view that you have never had. It’s
almost guaranteed that the things we say
are affected by where we’re from and who
we are, and as such, others will have life
experiences that may differ from yours
— so, it’s worth listening when someone
with a different perspective or background
cries injustice.
Shailee Koranne is a first-year student at Victoria College studying English and history.
In argument and discourse, content should
matter more than the source
Pouya Makki
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
What does "check your privilege" mean? When
people are engaging in discourse, sharing their
opinions in a respectful, academic discussion,
one person may remind another that they
are speaking from a point of privilege, and
therefore that they ought to be aware of what
influences their thinking.
For example, Jacob and Aanya are having a discussion about street harassment. Jacob, who is a
white heterosexual male, argues that what most
would consider harassment is harmless and can
even be defended as a form of flattery. Aanya,
who is neither male, white, nor heterosexual,
disagrees, and responds by telling Jacob to check
his privilege.
One could question the relevance of Aanya’s
response. What does Jacob’s position of privilege have to do with the strength of his argument, or the relative truth of the conclusions
he draws?
People’s life experiences certainly influence
the views they hold and the arguments they
support. Furthermore, people with certain life
experiences may be more likely to hold certain views. For example, men are probably more
likely than women to discard certain comments
made by strangers as harmless or friendly.
Whether something like “How are you this
morning?” or “God bless you Mami” — as can
be overheard directed towards the subject of a
recent viral video displaying misogynistic street
harassment — should be considered harassment
should be unrelated to Jacob’s male privilege. It
either is harassment or it isn’t.
Jacob’s arguments do not necessarily become
any stronger or weaker if a woman made them.
Attacking an argument by criticizing the source
is nothing short of ad hominem.
However, such a reaction may miss what is indirectly meant by Aanya’s response. What Aanya
means to say is that Jacob’s view on the subject
is biased as a result of his privileged position. In
other words, Jacob could not possibly experience
women’s issues or share their perspective, nor
has he been subjected to street harassment; his
privilege affects his thinking undoubtedly.
Since the purpose of discourse is to determine
whether this sort of statement is true, or whether
the possible arguments supporting it are strong,
comments and criticisms aimed at the source of
the argument are beside the point. If Jacob makes
a compelling argument, should it be disqualified
just because it came from a place of privilege?
In general, we have to remember to remove
ourselves from the context of discourse; the focus should always be on what is being said, and
not who is saying it.
Pouya Makki is a third-year philosophy specialist
at Trinity College.
H
idden beneath clothes and wrought
on moving canvases, tattoos are perhaps one of the most common art
forms in the city.
Toronto is a hub for tattoo aficionados, and
behind the doors of the city’s many parlors is a
diverse community of people-painters. Toronto’s
tattoo scene is large and eclectic, with hundreds
of shops, thousands of artists, and tens of thousands of tattooed people. Despite their relatively
ubiquitous nature, a conversation with some of
the city’s artists reveals the highly individualized
nature of the art.
“I worked briefly for a large tattoo shop on King
Street a while back but found it to be too much.
It was not the working atmosphere I felt I could
be the most productive. Imperial provides that
workspace. The stuff we do here is often largescale and requires multiple sittings and a quiet
environment. We elongate the conceptual process. We work at a relaxed pace,” he says.
It was indeed very relaxing. Jazz echoed
through the large, open room that held four or
five sectioned-off working areas for different artists. Mills’ section was plastered with sketches,
displaying his inkling and talent for illustrative
tattoo styles. Neighbouring him was an artist
who preferred Japanese-style designs.
“We are a smaller studio, but we cover all the
major styles of tattoos. We do a little bit of everything,” Mills says.
BEHIND THE ART
A CHANGING INDUSTRY
Arthur Mills tattooing a client at Imperial.
JESSICA SONG/THE VARSITY
Justin Murphy of Adrenaline Tattoo.
JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
Inde lible art
Diverse and expanding, Toronto’s tattoo community
puts ink to skin
Article by Caitlyn Fleming
Photos by Jennifer Su and Jessica Song
Top photo: Chris Price’s chest piece.
Arm: Fourth-year student Emily Scherzinger’s tattoos.
Sketches: Sketches on display in Justin Murphy’s studio at Adrenaline.
Right: First-year student Sidhi Srinivasachar had her tattoo designed by Tegan Rush.
JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
At one of the city’s most well-known shops,
Adrenaline on Queen Street West, we were introduced to two of its 30-plus artists. Chris Price and
Justin Murphy have been tattooing at Adrenaline
for four and two years, respectively, but both began their tattoo careers outside of Toronto.
Price started his artistic career in Vancouver,
but quickly moved here to take advantage of Toronto’s growing tattoo scene. Since his move, he
has made a name for himself in the city, including being recently recognized by NOW Magazine
as Toronto’s best tattoo artist.
When asked about the title, Price laughes, “I
think that award has more to do with customer
service than about artwork. I am talented, but so
are many other artists in this town.”
Looking around his studio at the sketches on
the wall, it is easy to disagree with him. His artistic style is motley and beautiful. Most of his
work tends towards an illustrative style, but Price
is adamant that, when it comes to style, he is a
jack-of-all-trades —
­­ an epithet he believes helps
him succeed and stand out as an artist.
“A lot of tattoo artists specialize in traditional
style and that is where a lot of the competition is.
I like to be good at whatever someone brings me.
I enjoy a challenge. I don’t like to say ‘No, I can’t
do that style’ because I could do that. I want to be
able to cater to the clients as best I can,” he says.
When asked about any restrictions he puts on
himself when designing and inking tattoos, Price
shows the same enthusiasm: “I don’t normally
do super large pieces, but if I could take it on and
want it in my portfolio then I will do it,” he says.
Murphy’s studio is located a couple of rooms
away from that of Price. Murphy is an equally talented though more stylistically specialized artist
who has been developing his craft since 2007. He
began his career in Halifax but soon moved to
Vancouver and then eventually Toronto to immerse himself in the heart of Canada’s tattoo
culture. His geographic moves were calculated;
Murphy wants his skills to be challenged.
“I like the competitive nature of Toronto. In
Halifax it was not competitive because of the lack
of shops. Nobody is forced to push or improve their
craft to the next level because they have no competition. Meanwhile, in Toronto, you basically have
to be on the top of your game because if you’re not,
somebody is going to sweep the feet out from under you. Some people hate that; I enjoy it,” he says.
Murphy specializes in neo-traditional tattoos —
bold, graphic, and elaborate types of designs that
are gaining in popularity with tattoo collectors.
This tattoo style is one of many new types of tattoo design that have emerged in the last decade.
Murphy attributes the proliferation and evolution of tattoo designs to things like changes
in public perception through certain television
shows and technological advances in tattooing
equipment; however, the primary catalyst, he
claims, is the recent infusion of fine arts and artists into the industry.
“With old-school traditional tattooing, a lot of
the guys couldn’t draw to save their life. If they
were battling for their soul in hell, they would
stay where they were. Now, though, a lot of like
painters and different fields of art have integrated
into tattooing, especially in the last five years. Now
that fine arts have merged with tattooing you can
see everything kind of taking off,” he explains.
When asked why more artists prefer skin to
canvas, Murphy simply states: “It’s more profitable, and more fun.”
Murphy started off as a painter but found that
not only was tattooing more lucrative, it was
also more rewarding. While he was in Halifax,
Murphy worked with many women who had undergone mastectomies, tattooing nipples onto
scar tissue and ultimately helping his customers
recover from the trauma they had experienced.
Reconstructive surgery is one of the many ways
tattooing has become more normalized in the
public eye and has helped change the negative
stigma it used to have.
“It has become more therapeutic than rebellious,” claims Murphy. “Tattoos are still about
self expression but are a lot less ‘Fuck you.’”
There is no doubt that Imperial is saturated with
artistic talent, but due to their lack of advertising
and hidden location, one wonders how the studio
attracts customers.
“Most of our clients hear about us from word
of mouth and social networking, but I would
also attribute a large part of our success to repeat customers and a growth in the population
of people wanting to get tattooed. Right now
more people are getting tattooed than ever. Doctors, lawyers, and dentists come to me to get
tattooed,” Mills says.
Mills, like many artists, attributes the growing
Chris Price, recognized as Toronto’s best tattoo artist
by NOW Magazine.JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
SELF-EXPRESSION
Tegan Rush recently finished her apprenticeship at
Chronic Ink. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
Some of Rosemary Webb’s tattoos.
JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
About a 20-minute walk westward at Queen
Street West and Ossington Avenue, there is a
tattoo artist who disagrees.
“Tattoos are still inherently rebellious,” says
Arthur Mills, an artist from Imperial Tattoos.
“Different types of people are getting tattooed
now but for the same reasons as before. They
want to externalize an internal desire. To be more
attractive, to express something, to remember
an event or person in their lives,” he explains.
“It is done to make you feel a certain way or to
make people see you in a certain way. Tattoo is
still primarily about vanity,” Mills adds.
Mills is an American artist who has been tattooing in Toronto since 2006. He moved to the city to
take advantage of its massive population of 20 to
35-year-olds, the prime demographic of tattooees.
The parlor he works in is not the standard
walk-in tattoo shop, although they do accept
walk-ins. Instead, Imperial is on the top level
of a modest black-bricked building, giving it a
more intimate feel. Mills says it is a more pleasant
working environment.
“I think my tattoos really represent my passions and are influenced by different aspects
of my personality. Two are for my fascination
with the universe and remind me every day of
my dream to be an astrophysicist; one is for how
important music is in my life, two more represent
how much I love baking, tea, and all things cute;
one is an homage to video games and geekdom;
and one represents my heritage and where I grew
up,” she explains.
Webb adds, “So yes, they all have some meaning behind them. I think that having meaning
behind a tattoo is a great way to start, but now
I simply want more art on my body.”
Tegan Rush has been tattooing at Chronic
Ink for almost two years, completing her apprenticeship and then carrying on as one of
the shop’s artists.
For her, the decision to become involved in the
industry was as personal as it was about art. “I
interest in tattoos to the continuing advances in
tattooing technology and, consequently, artistic
skills. He also attributes the growth to the corporatization of tattoo art. Brands like Ed Hardy
and Sailor Jerry Rum that use tattoo flash as part
of their public image have helped push tattoos
into the public realm.
“There is a lot of corporate interest in tattooing
now, which brings more money into the industry.
More money means more advances to technique
and technology and more interest and time in the
public eye,” he says.
There is a catch-22 in this situation. The corporatization of tattoo supplies is often managed
by people who are not tattoo artists, yet they
provide better technology and thus increase the
possibilities for artistic expression by the actual
tattoo artists.
“In general, tattoo artists try to avoid becoming too corporatized or commercialized. They
want to keep the money in the industry, but with
more money from corporations means better
equipment available, which lights a fire under
everyone’s feet and makes everyone more competitive,” says Mills.
Despite all the industry changes and increase
in competition, Imperial has done well with their
marketing strategy by focusing more on quality
than quantity of artwork.
INDIVIDUAL ART
Adrenaline and Imperial are only two of the
many types of tattoo studios that Toronto has to
offer. Each of the city’s studios has its own niche.
U of T student Rosemary Webb prefers Chronic
Ink on Yonge Street, where her best friend and
one of Toronto’s leading female tattoo artists,
Tegan Rush, tattoos her.
Webb is an avid tattoo collector, with seven
so far and more soon to come. For her, getting
tattooed is a very personal experience but also a
bit of an addiction.
decided to go into tattooing in my grade 12 year
of high school... It’s not something I would have
necessarily thought of going into at the time, but
people kept suggesting I look into it because my
style fits well with tattoo design.”
It’s a decision she’s happy to have made. “It
turn[ed] out to be a very good fit for me. You get
a lot more artistic freedom than many arts jobs in
larger industries like animation and illustration and
interesting new projects every day,” she explains.
Knowing the motivation behind her clients’ desire for a tattoo is important to Rush. “I always ask
a client if the tattoo they are getting has meaning
to them or is just an image that they like,” she says.
The responses she receives are varied. “Some
people need a very solid reason to get a tattoo,
like a major event in their lives, a person they
want to commemorate, or a passion they have.
Others choose tattoos just for the sake of the art
itself, just an image that they find interesting or
fashionable,” says Rush.
Regardless of the rationale, tattoos are inherently personal. As Rush explains, “The imagery
will inevitably reflect the style and taste of the
person, as well as a general mood.”
THINK BEFORE YOU INK
Addictive as tattoos are, many artists suggest that
they should be chosen carefully.
“Be careful when choosing an artist,” warns
Price. “Look at reputation and portfolios and of
course cleanliness.”
“It is not about cost and convenience, but about
quality,” adds Murphy. “The worst thing you can
do when getting your first tattoo is going to the
nearest shop or the first shop that will take you.
Research is key.”
As the lesson goes, cheap tattoos aren’t good
and good tattoos aren’t cheap. But it is not
only the price and the place one needs to take
into consideration.
“Be careful choosing a design,” says Mills.
“There are restrictions in the media. Just because
it looks good on paper does not mean it will when
contoured with your body. It also may not age
well. Trust the artist. They know what they’re
doing. Take your time and do your research.”
Fortunately for her, Webb has been a smart
collector.
“I have thought deeply about the design, size,
placement, and colour of each tattoo. I think that
if you spend time thinking about what you want
it would be hard to regret them,” she says, adding,
“I will never regret mine because they truly are
works of art and I will always be happy to be the
walking canvas that I am.”
Arts&Culture
VAR.ST/ARTS
12 JANUARY 2015
[email protected]
Finding love in a student space
Whether it's in between classes or on the commute
home, U of T students find different ways to make
romantic connections across campus
U of T is a big university, but some still manage to find love. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY
Linh Nguyen
VARSITY STAFF
U of T is a big school — it’s a fact we’re warned
of before we get here, and one that’s hard to ignore once we are. For many students, the years
they spend here can involve a certain degree of
loneliness. Friendships are forged amid large
classes and hectic schedules. How is it, then,
that romantic relationships come to be?
"Given how stressful the school year is, and
how busy people are with courses and clubs, it's
definitely hard to find someone to be romantically attached to," says Saad Khan, a secondyear immunology specialist, "I mean, sure you
can make friends and all, but it's hard to think
of things like these when you're busy doing
something important."
Khan is not alone in this way of thinking. "U
of T is a big school in a big city, and while you
think that would increase the odds of meeting
someone, it just makes it, at least in my case, a
bit more daunting," says Lisa*, adding, "People
can get really absorbed into their own worlds…
This is my first time living on my own and I’d
like to get to know what kind of a person I am
before I enter the dating scene."
Jessica*, a student in the Music Faculty,
shares how difficult she found the dating scene
in first-year, especially with the prevalence of
hook-up culture. "As a commuter student with
a heavy course load and little time to put into
extra activities, it was hard to get to know people in general… classes were big, and everyone
has a different schedule,” she shares. “[At pub
nights], a lot of times, you might not even talk
enough to know if they're interested in more
than a hook-up. Nothing is ever clear in hookups, people say things they don't mean while
they're in bed together and can lead each other
on. It just leads up to disappointment when
you don't hear back from the other person
[afterwards],” she explains.
MAKING THE CONNECTION
Still, while some students struggle to make
connections, couples continue to meet and
flourish at U of T. Perhaps the most hopeful accounts are those that seem to stumble
unexpectedly into being.
"In a big school like U of T, it isn't so much
about meeting people but staying connected once you have met them," says Gabriel
Zoltan, a third-year political science specialist. "I think that mostly entails being yourself and involving yourself in opportunities
that allow you to express a passion in your
life,” he says.
Ally Scandolo, a second-year art history
major, describes how her relationship with
Zoltan took off: "We met on VUSAC [the
Victoria University Students' Administrative Council] at the beginning of last year.
We talked a few times when we saw each
other at meetings or socials, but we only
really knew of each other. Towards the end
of the year, I was studying alone one night
before an assignment was due and he happened to be walking by. I decided to take a
'break' that ended up being four hours of us
talking. We found out we had a lot in common, then we just started becoming closer
and closer friends since our interests lined
Ben Atkins and Sarah Leaper. Read their story at thevarsity.ca. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY
up so well... We went on our first date the
next week during the exam period."
Ryan Fan, a third-year computer science specialist, describes how he and his girlfriend, Sharon Wang, also grew closer through campus life
involvement. Their relationship grew gradually
from hanging out in student spaces, which allowed a forum to connect despite being in different programs. Fan says, "Student spaces are
good places to meet people as they are places
where people aren't stressed about school work
and just want to enjoy some people time. Going
to social events whether hosted by colleges or
campus-wide is a good place to meet or bring
friends to."
SITES OF CONTACT
While many have the chance to get to know
someone through in-person proximity, others
find their partners through a more modern forum: online.
"I found it pretty tough to meet someone romantically at school, but funnily enough, I had
heard of people meeting other students online
on [dating sites] like OkCupid," says Sabina Freiman, a fourth-year neuroscience major. "I decided to give it a shot, and to be honest it began
to feel pretty hopeless fairly quickly. After a few
uninspiring dates, I decided that online dating
really wasn't all that great after all, that high percentages online didn't translate into chemistry
in person,” she relays.
“One night, I wasn't really seriously looking
to talk to anyone, I was just browsing through
matches randomly giving people high scores,
but I kind of felt like this was it, this was the last
night and I'd quit. Then I came across a profile
for a guy who was also interested in medicine —
which is a rare find — and [that] I found quite
attractive. I gave him five stars and, sure enough,
he liked me back an hour later. We started talking, and what had begun as a last hope ended up
being great. The best part was that meeting in
person felt just as great. It was the right mix of
being exciting, yet natural, that made us work
well,” she says.
Jenn* describes how a different site, Love at
U of T, provided the foundation for a long-term
relationship: "I met my boyfriend through an
Internet student start up called Love at U of T.
I was in my first year while my boyfriend was
pursuing his masters. He was the first person I
talked to once I set up my account, and I knew
from the start that this person was going to be
special. After conversing with him for over two
months, I finally revealed my name and he re-
Ryan and Sharon. RUSABA ALAM/THE VARSITY
vealed his. To my surprise, this person's older
brother mentored me in high school. After contemplation, I finally decided to ask him on a
date. He agreed, and we are currently celebrating our third year anniversary."
Founded in 2011, Love at U of T was a dating website designed specifically for U of T
students. Thousands joined the service and
favoured it over more professional dating sites
for its smaller and safer pool of candidates.
The site is now inactive.
Although successful at times, online dating
may not be for everyone. "I would only recommend online dating if you feel comfortable revealing information about yourself to a total
stranger," the student advises.
So while the prospect of finding love in such a
big city and school can seem quite daunting, students still manage to bridge the gap and make
lasting connections. "I would always recommend to not primarily worry about making romantic connections first and foremost," Scandolo advises, adding, "Sometimes those things
can develop from friendships. I think it's most
important to forge friendships with people who
inspire, support, and interest you. Those people
will be able to help you through your time at
school. They could even eventually turn into
someone whom you want to be with romantically because of your compatibility."
*Names changed at students request
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
var.st/arts
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
15
Judas, baby
First-time performer Aaron Williams hits the stage next week in
Hart House Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar
JANICE LIU/THE VARSITY
A bi-weekly film podcast
from The Varsity's associate
Arts & Culture editors
In this week's podcast, Dan and Jake
reviewed every single movie they
saw over Christmas break — to pull
it off, one sentence reviews were
necessary.
Dan: Inherent Vice — once you get
past the fact that you’re not going
to understand the plot, Inherent
Vice is an excellently made film
with a beautiful aesthetic, amazing
performances, and a narrative that
doesn’t need to be comprehended
in order to be enjoyed.
Jake: Foxcatcher — although I
do regret seeing it on Christmas
day, Foxcatcher is a remarkably
depressing film about the
relationship between two
professional wrestlers and a
millionaire, which is nonetheless
incredibly thought provoking.
Aaron Williams landed the role of Judas after his first audition with Hart House Theatre. ALEXANDRA SCANDOLO/THE VARSITY
Joseph Ianni
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
It’s not often that you get the opportunity to
go to Tim Horton's with a biblical figure, but
when it's Judas, you make the time — and, perhaps, keep a watchful eye on your coffee. Aaron
Williams plays Judas in Hart House Theatre's
upcoming production of Jesus Christ Superstar (JCS). He’s an alumnus of the University
of Toronto with a background in Philosophy,
Religion and Music, and History and Culture.
With his official stage debut fast approaching,
he took some time out of his busy rehearsal
schedule to tell The Varsity about his role in
the show.
A FIRST TIMER
U of T boasts a large and vibrant theatre community, but, until recently, Williams had never
found himself involved with it. Discounting
“performances in elementary school” he describes this opportunity as his “first real gig.”
He cites his free time following graduation and
his personal love of the show as the reasons
for finally taking the plunge into performing.
“I’m finished school. I didn’t know what
to do. So now, y’know, I decided to go take
some classes at The Second City and Casting
Central Inc., acting workshops…And then I
heard about Jesus Christ Superstar — JCS is
my musical! It’s my show!” Williams explains
excitedly.
Working among seasoned professionals
and veteran performers, it’s easy to feel like
the odd man out, especially when you land
a leading role at your first audition. In a real
way, Williams could find himself in a similar
position to Judas as the rouge of the group. But
he insists that he’s never felt that way.
“Honestly, it’s been really nice. And I had
pre-conceived notions and people would tell
me things about theatre people. I’ve been
lucky enough not to feel that yet. Everyone
has been really nice and really supportive. A
lot were shocked it seemed that this was my
first show. Everyone’s been great — [a] very
welcoming experience,”he says.
POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Often a focus in productions of JCS are the
political and personal relationships that exist between the show’s main characters. Given
the many forms of political unrest occurring
around the world, now appears to be a particularly appropriate time to put on this production.
Both Jesus and Judas can be seen as radicals of
their own time period.
Williams expanded on this topic in relation to
JCS, “Any ‘radical’ approach to making change
usually comes with a charismatic leader," he
says, continuing, "The issue with a charismatic
leader is once the leader becomes more important than the actual movement itself […] that’s
the issue that Judas has with the movement
that he started with Jesus. He feels that Jesus
has now become more important than what
their initial goal was.”
When asked if he thought the lead characters
in JCS are an example of what is expected of
leaders in movements today, or if their interpersonal struggles reflect the internal tensions that
can exist within social movements, Williams
responds unsurely: “Maybe, I’m not too sure. I
wouldn’t say so, because they are on the same
side. The only difference is the approach which
they have decided to take. Judas feels that ‘It’s
not about you, Jesus, but you’re letting this get
to you’”.
This onstage relationship sits in stark contrast to Williams’ experience working with his
fellow actors. “The beautiful part… that I’ve
learned… is that it’s not about me, it’s not about
Jesus, it’s not about anyone who can be said to
star in the show. We’re like the least important
people… Everyone’s got to work together. Everyone is trying to put on the show.”
NEXT STEPS
In terms of what people can look forward to
from the production, Williams says the audience should expect “a certain amount of raunchiness,” an aspect that is perhaps somewhat
unexpected in what might be branded as a
religious narrative. Williams continues laughingly, “There are a couple parts in the show
which are just full-on ridiculous as far as I’m
concerned. Which is good. It’s definitely an
interesting take [on the show] without giving
away too much.”
With such a positive first experience thus
far, Williams' future as a performer appears
bright. Reflecting on his introduction to the
theatre world and his further potential, he offers some personal advice for other creative
individuals with similar aspirations.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned and
which is going to literally carry me on for the
rest of my life is if you have any inclination
towards performing whatsoever just go do it.
Literally, just go do it. It doesn’t make a difference what it is. It’s not a waste of your time
because it’s allowed me to feel more focused
and just better about living than I have in a
little bit. It’s a good bit of fun,” he says.
At the close of our conversation, Williams
returned to some wisdom passed down to him
through an interview featuring Kevin Spacey.
He recalls,“He was talking about working in
theatre. And he felt the difference between
film and theatre is that theatre is where you
get to build families. You have to go and see
these people all the time and work in close
quarters to one another. Even after the show,
if I don’t see everybody, I’m always going to
have that space and time when I was working
with those people. And right now I feel close
to a lot of them.”
Dan: Unbroken — Roger Deakins'
cinematography is pretty much the
only saving grace here. Unbroken
feels like three movies in one, and
its poor pacing and lacklustre script
make it little more than really good
looking Oscar-bait.
Jake: Wild — it’s filled with
beautiful cinematography and a
commendable performance from
Reese Witherspoon.
Dan: The Interview — the comedy
in The Interview was remarkably
lowbrow, even by Seth Rogen’s
standards, but it manages to have
some genuinely hilarious moments.
Jake: Exodus: Gods and Kings —
there was enough elaborate CGI
to make it acceptable to watch,
but also enough overwhelming
historical inaccuracy to ruin it all.
Do you have what
it takes to write for
Arts & Culture?
Probably.
[email protected]
16
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
[email protected]
Tune in and listen up
A guide to today's most popular and engaging podcasts
Jacob Lorinc
ASSOCIATE ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
Disembodied voices are making a
comeback.
Back in the day, radio provided
people with a source of news and
entertainment. Nowadays, radio
has taken a backseat (perhaps even
the trunk) to the modern innovations of TV and computer technology. With our eyes doing most of
the work for us, we’ve stopped having to rely on the ears to pull nearly
as much weight.
Luckily for our already damaged
eyeballs, it seems as though radio
has begun making its comeback,
but this time in a slightly differnt
form: the podcast.
The podcast can be listened to
through any smartphone, computer, or iPod related device, making it easily accessible throughout
the day. For some, having people
divulge information into your ear
may not seem so enticing. But, if
you’re anything like me and have
an almost obsessive-compulsive
need to stay up-to-date on world
news, this function of technology
can be quite appealing.
Podcasts aren’t just for news.
They encompass a wide variety
of entertainment — from spoken
comedy sketches to advice forums
and self-help guides. People have
started following their own preferred podcasts, the same way
they do with TV, and will stay up
to date with the most recent episodes as they please. If you haven’t
yet crossed paths with a thoughtpiece on Serial during your recent
internet adventures, we’re here to
help you get out of the rock you’ve
been living under and provide you
with a few worthy podcasts to help
get you started.
Serial
Easily the show with the most
buzz around it, Serial seems to
be at the forefront of the podcast
revolution. Produced by the makers of another notable podcast series entitled This American Life,
Serial is hosted by Sarah Koenig
and tells the true story of a high
school girl whose body turns up in
a city park six weeks after her suspicious disappearance. Detective
work ensues. Think Twin Peaks,
but with fewer sweaters.
The Moth
The Moth is much like a series of
audiobooks, as it consists of different stories being told per episode.
Based in New York City, The Moth
is a series of live storytelling events
that are recorded and put into podcasts for people to enjoy without
attending the actual event. Stories
range from true tales of prison es-
cape, to stories about coming-of-age
in a poverty-stricken country. Unfortunately, The Moth only keeps its
five latest episodes on iTunes, so it’s
not entirely binge-able.
Savage Lovecast
While Dan Savage’s Savage Lovecast is generally thought of as a
relationship advice forum, there's
much more to the show than
meets the ear. Yes, Savage deals
with callers’ love-life woes and
offers boatloads of advice, but
he also spends quality time talking about important topics such
as gender and LGBTQ+ equality.
Veering from hilarious commentary to captivating discussions of
problems within today’s society,
Savage Lovecast becomes weirdly
addicting, weirdly fast.
WTF with Marc Maron
He can be irritating at times, and
occasionally plain insufferable, but
Marc Maron nonetheless runs an
entertaining show. Having picked
up steam over the years to reach
the status of a highly regarded podcast, Maron has the ability to gather
well-known celebrities like Louis
C.K., Paul Thomas Anderson, and
many others to speak on his show.
The show usually features a special
guest, as well as a bit of time setaside to accommodate Maron’s various antics about his tumultuous life.
JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY
Le Show
Hosted by the fantastically soothing
voice of Harry Sheerer, an LA native
and former member of SNL, Le Show
is the best podcast to listen to for political commentary, world news, and
current topics of debate. Besides the
benefits of having the lowdown ex-
plained to you by a deeply relaxing
voice (as if to sooth the pain of what
will inevitably be bad news), Le Show
also provides plenty of quirky music
from around the world, as well as
short skits reminiscent of Sheerer’s
time spent as a comedian.
u of t’s
performing arts
Leader sinCe 1919
Jesus Christ
superstar
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Directed by Luke Brown
Jan. 16–31, 2015
Box offiCe:
www.uofttix.ca / 416.978.8849
Adults $28 / Seniors $17 / Students $15
$10 Student tickets every Wednesday!
www.harthousetheatre.ca
Season Sponsors:
var.st/arts
VARSITY ARTS & CULTURE
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
17
High fashion, low temperature
Students weigh in on whether U of T
has a signature style
Article by Jeffery Chen
Winter fashion in Toronto can feel like a long parade of thick
scarves and ubiquitous Canada Goose jackets. But, with a
fashion scene as diverse as the U of T student body, some
students are still putting together stylish outfits for the
winter weather. This week The Varsity interviewed students
to discover what they had to say about their classmates'
personal style.
Connor Campbell
Erin Ross
Carol Drumm
When asked to describe U of T students’ general fashion sense, many, including second
year student Nicole Morin, commented that
they found U of T’s style to be “casual.” Erin
Ross, a first year student, agrees, saying that
comfort-wear like “sweats and Uggs” seem to
be U of T staples.
Others, however, observe a wholly different
trend. Haris Yaqeen, a self-described fashionista, believes that “fashion at U of T is
something that is taken a lot more seriously
than at other university campuses; it seems
like having a school that is a part of such a
vibrant urban fabric gives people motivation
to actually put some effort and thought into
what they wear.” Lily O’Brien, a second year,
agrees with Haris, though she thinks U of T’s
put-together fashion scene is less a result of
its urban setting and more a reflection of the
“high-functioning level of U of T students.”
First year Brody Longmuir describes the U
of T fashion scene as “preppy,” noting the
pervasive presence of boat shoes and tweed
blazers on campus.
The reality of the U of T fashion scene is
most likely a mix between the relaxed casual look observed by some and the fashionconsciousness seen by others —
­ “lazy prep,”
as one student put it.
EMERGING TRENDS
Students were also asked what trends seem to
be surfacing on campus this winter. Katrina
Li, a first year student, explains: “Last year, it
was all about the edgy look, with glam spikes
and the rest. Now, for women, we’re seeing
feminine silhouettes make a come back, with
mid-length skirts that have a romantic look, but
with modern fabrics and patterns. Makeup is
back to the ’90s — we’re seeing a lot of cat eye
and soft-smudged brown. For men, clothing
is a lot more lax in terms of cut; we’re seeing
looser pant legs. Accessories like necklaces and
bracelets are out for men (for the moment).”
Others observe a sudden resurgence of hats,
especially wide-brimmed hats, in the student
population. For handbags and accessories,
many note the prevalence of Michael Kors,
kate spade, and MCM merchandise. One student sees the emergence of a “Nylon magazine inspired aesthetic: top knots with the
rest of the hair down and platform shoes.”
Aphtarsia Nix, a first year student, remarks
that while many U of T students take a casual
attitude towards dress, there are those who
wear formal attire to class. She describes her
experience of witnessing students wearing
suits and carrying leather briefcases to class,
or wearing high heels and dresses to lectures.
LOOK BY LOCATION
According to some students, U of T’s eclectic fashion can be broken up into subgroups,
especially by college. Yaqeen observes that
Trinity students overwhelmingly prefer “traditional and often preppy clothing in the
Anglo-American vein,” as opposed to the
“modern or ‘stylish’ streetwear” he believes
is favoured in other parts of campus.
Nix also notices style differences between
the colleges, saying: “UC students’ style seem
more casual than Trin, but most can dress
smartly if the need arises. I’ve never seen
anyone in UC overdressed.” Lily O’Brien of
St. Michael’s College, says SMC students generally prefer a more “practical style, with lots
of collared shirts with or without sweaters.”
U of T is home to a wide-ranging mix of
styles, and whether or not they are truly demarcated by college, it is clear that U of T’s
fashion scene is as vibrant and diverse as the
rest of its campus life.
PHOTOS BY JAY BAWAR/THE VARSITY
Science
VAR.ST/SCIENCE
12 JANUARY 2015
[email protected]
U of T researcher improves
“spray-on” solar power
The key to making solar energy ubiquitous and affordable
Clinical Research Seminar
by Dr. Jordan Feld
Hosted by the U of T chapter of the
Canadian Liver Foundation, this
seminar will share cutting-edge
liver research.
Monday, January 12
4:00–5:00 pm
University College (room 177)
Free; no registration necessary
Alternative Models
for Consent and the
Management of Study Data
in Emergency Research:
Survey of Current
Canadian Research Ethics
Board (REB) Practices
The presentation will be delivered
by Dr. Blair Henry, an ethicist at
the Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre.
Wednesday, January 14
4:00–5:30 pm
Health Sciences Building (room 108)
Free; no registration necessary
You’re Next Career Fair
With more than 80 employers,
including Microsoft, Home Depot,
Nvidia, and Accenture, this may
be where you land your summer
internship.
Friday, January 16
10:00 am–4:00 pm
Examination Centre
Free; no registration necessary
Healing and the
Heart: Conference
on Cardiovascular
Regenerative Medicine
Dr. Illan Kramer and fellow researcher Gabriel Moreno-Bautista. JESSICA LEE/THE VARSITY
Shaan Bhambra
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
In a few years, we may see cars
and roofs everywhere generating
electricity, all due to the work of
Dr. Illan Kramer, a post-doctoral
researcher with the Sargent Group
of the Faculty of Applied Science
& Engineering. Kramer’s work
focuses on the use of a material
known as colloidal quantum dots
(CQDs). CQDs are nanocrystals of
semiconducting material that function uniquely at the quantum scale,
where they take advantage of the
laws of quantum mechanics.
The results of Kramer’s research
have led to the discovery of a novel
process to produce CQD solar cells,
which is far more cost-effective
than previous manufacturing tech-
niques. He has dubbed his process
“SprayLD.” SprayLD can be used to
coat flexible films and wraps to fit
objects of odd shapes, such as cars
or roads. In theory, SprayLD can
make nearly anything an energygenerating machine.
CQDs have previously been investigated as a technology by various research groups around the
world for their ability to produce
flexible solar cells. Since CQDs are
suspended in solution, they can be
deposited into films using spraycoating techniques.
However, up until now, manufacturing these CQD solar cells required an arduous process known
as drop-casting.
“Until SprayLD, this process
was done one drop at a time, by
hand, a very laborious process
with a large amount of variation
from sample-to-sample. We found
a way to automate it and implement it using fine mists of spray,”
explains Kramer. He developed
his manufacturing process while
searching for a more cost-effective
way to make CQD solar cells.
What makes SprayLD such an
interesting breakthrough is its focus on cost-effectiveness. SprayLD
can produce CQD solar cells over a
large area and at low cost. SprayLD
is especially cost-effective as it does
not need expensive infrastructure
to produce solar cells covering a
large area.
“If we expect, as many people
do, that we are going to solve the
world’s energy needs through solar
cells, then we need to get to a place
where we can quickly and cheaply
cover large swaths of land in solar
cells. SprayLD can, with some fur-
ther process development, get us
there,” says Kramer.
Astoundingly, this increase in
cost-effectiveness does not come
at a cost to electrical efficiency. In
recent publications in Advanced
Materials and Applied Physics Letters, Kramer demonstrated that his
method does not decrease solar-cell
efficiency when compared to other
CQD production methods.
In the future, Kramer says that
he hopes to see his technology become something as ubiquitous as
“wallpaper that you could unroll
onto any surface you like — maybe
a rooftop or a car hood or an airplane wing.”
Soon, we may see our world coated in films generating solar power,
in part due to the pioneering research done at U of T.
The Laboratory Medicine and
Pathobiology Student Union’s
annual conference will include
two lecture sessions and a panel
discussion on ethical issues
surrounding the topic.
Saturday, January 17
8:30 am–5:15 pm
Medical Sciences Building,
MacLeod Auditorium (room 2158)
Free; register on Eventbrite
My Virtual Dream
Watch scientist transform the
brainwaves of volunteers into a
virtual spectacle of colours and
sounds.
Saturday, January 17 & Sunday,
January 18
Starts at 11 am; performances run
every 45 minutes throughout the day
Ontario Science Centre (Imperial Oil
Auditorium, Level 1)
var.st/science
VARSITY SCIENCE
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
19
A lawyer in your pocket
U of T students create artificially intelligent lawyer using IBM technology
ROSS placed second in the IBM Watson Cognitive Computing Competition. PHOTO COURTESY OF JIMOH OVBIAGELE
Jeremy Li
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
“In Ontario, can courts pierce a corporate
veil where a corporation has misappropriated
funds?” asks the introductory webpage for
the International Business Machines Corporation’s (IBM) new legal expert.
In a law firm, questions like these are usually assigned to associates who perform research to help the firm win cases. Recently,
University of Toronto undergraduate students have developed a program that can do
so much faster than any regular attorney —
meet ROSS.
ROSS is a computer program that performs
legal research through artificial intelligence.
Its name was inspired by Mike Ross from the
popular TV series Suits.
“ROSS enables lawyers to conduct their legal research faster and more thoroughly than
is currently possible,” says Jimoh Ovbiagele,
one of the students working on the project.
Ovbiagele is a computer science student at U
of T. He has been programming since the age
of 10 and works full-time in technology consulting while studying part-time at U of T. The
team includes four other students as well: Shuai Wang, Akash Venkat, Pargles Dall’Oglio,
and Andrew Arruda.
Lawyers can ask ROSS any sort of legal question in natural language and ROSS will try to
come up with an answer. Unlike a regular
search engine, ROSS is able to derive meaning
and knowledge from legal texts and decisions
and use that knowledge to answer questions.
ROSS was developed as part of a competition hosted by IBM challenging students to put
the company’s artificially intelligent computer system, called Watson, to work. U of T is
one of 10 universities invited to participate.
IBM’s Watson is capable of deriving meaning from information stored in regular text
and using that information to answer questions posed in natural language. It made headlines in 2011 for winning a game of Jeopardy
against former Jeopardy champions.
“Watson is a cognitive technology that processes information more like a human than
a computer – by understanding natural lan-
guage, generating hypotheses based on evidence, and learning as it goes,” reads IBM’s
“Smarter Planet” website.
Traditional computers make decisions
based on rules and logic, and work best with
data that is highly structured. However, the
defining bulk of human knowledge in the
form of books, articles, and blogs is abstract,
unstructured, and often deals in the vernacular. The true meaning of these texts can
only be derived based on grammar, context,
and culture. Making use of this data requires
learning and rationalization, which is what
Watson is designed to do.
ROSS, based off the Watson computer system, is fed a body of knowledge in the form of
Ontario corporate law decisions and statutes,
which it processes and analyses. Right now,
ROSS has access to a repository of publicly
available legal documents, but may take on
more legal content in the future. It processes
and learns this body of knowledge to answer
legal questions.
ROSS is also capable of monitoring new legal
decisions that could have a bearing on a case.
While ROSS is not meant to replace attorneys, these students say that it is sure to leave
its mark on the legal profession, greatly improving the way research is done.
“Lawyers fear missing crucial pieces of information in the research process, such as
a new court decision that could support or,
worse, hurt their client’s case,” says Ovbiagele.
“What lawyers receive is fast, thorough,
around-the-clock legal intelligence anywhere
they are,” he adds.
The students involved in this project will
visit New York City this week to pitch IBM for
$100,000 and continued access to Watson.
“Me and the team are off to NYC on Thursday to pitch to IBM for seed capital, so we are
grinding,” says Ovbiagele.
An ecological concern
European fire ant disperses seeds of invasive plant species
Jasleen Arneja
SCIENCE EDITOR
Researchers at the University of Toronto have
found that an invasive species of European
fire ant plays a key role in the proliferation of
alien plants, which are threatening the local
ecosystem. Alien plants are those that are not
native to the environment in question.
The fire ants — known in the scientific community as Myrmica rubra — are native to European ecosystems, acting as effective seed
dispersers. However, the research conducted
suggests that the fire ant favours the dispersal
of harmful invasive seeds over native ones.
In Eastern North American Forests, 30 to 40
per cent of herbs such as the violet, trillium,
and bloodroot spread their seeds through
“myrmecochory”, or a mutualism between
plants and ants. In such a relationship, both
organisms benefit from the activity of the
other. The ant gets to feed on the plant and
the plants’ seeds are dispersed.
A team of scientists at U of T investigated
how effective invasive Myrmica rubra ants are
at dispersing native and alien plant seeds.
The principal investigator of the study is Dr.
Megan Frederickson, an associate professor
at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. “Ecologists think invasive species
might help each other to spread, but there are
few good examples,” Frederickson said in a
University of Toronto press release.
Frederickson also mentions a term called
“invasional meltdown,” which she says re-
fers to the very rapid takeover of ecosystems by invasive species if these invaders
assist each other.
The experiment was conducted at U of T’s
field station, the Koffler Scientific Reserve,
where 42 small plastic pools served as miniecosystems that could be controlled. Each pool
contained four plants: three native and one
invasive species, as well as both a native ant
colony and a Myrmica rubra colony.
The results of the study are published in the
journal Proceedings of The Royal Society in a
paper titled “Mutualism between co-introduced species facilitates invasion and alters
plant community structure.”
“Even though both of the ant species in our
study belong to the same guild of seed-dispersing ants, they were not interchangeable,” the
authors write in their paper. Although they
displayed similar behaviour, the two species
seemed to spread the invasive and native plant
seeds quite differently.
Both the invasive ant and the native ant preferred the alien plant, but the spread was more
predominant with Myrmica rubra.
Kirsten Prior of the Department of Biology
at the University of Florida is a co-author of
the paper. Prior said in the release, “Unfortunately, as a result of humans rapidly moving
species around the globe through trade and
traffic, most ecosystems are now home to numerous invasive species.”
Prior explains that the existence of more
than one species can lead to an accelerated
invasion process such that the invasive species
becomes dominant.
JULIEN BALBONTIN/THE VARSITY
20 Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
VARSITY SCIENCE
[email protected]
Geological discovery sheds light
on events of World War II
UTM professor takes to the trenches
Alice (Xia) Zhu
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
UTM lecturer David Passmore recently led a geo-archaeological
expedition to the battlegrounds of
World War II. Passmore and his team
covered the sites of battles that took
place in northwestern Europe from
June 1944 to February 1945.
It was believed that the archaeology of radar sites, bombing
decoys, airfields, and factories
in Britain had already been uncovered and studied. However,
it soon became evident to Passmore’s team that the forests and
woodlands of northwest Europe
were unexplored. There has been
little research conducted previously that pertains to the events
of the time period.
In an attempt to offer more information about the history of the
Second World War, Passmore and
his team conducted a survey of the
forest and woodland terrains of
northwest Europe using archival
documents, aerial photographs,
and field visits, among other tools.
Passmore published his findings in the journal Antiquity in a
paper titled “Second World War
conflict archaeology in the forests
of northwest Europe.” According
to the paper, Passmore’s team was
able to add to the current knowledge base of the geography of
“munitions and fuel depots and
their archaeological potential in
woodlands” in northwest France
at the time of the Normandy campaign (the invasion of Normandy
by Western allied forces in 1944).
Passmore and his team also conducted studies on the forests that
bordered Belgium, Germany, and
Luxembourg, where large-scale
combat operations are believed
to have been held. The paper also
notes that the surveying of this
area can offer knowledge of not
only the military history of specific combat events, but also allows analysis of field fortification
practices to strengthen armies in
preparation for battle, including
the establishment of bomb shelters and trenches, as defined in
their study.
When asked to describe the
significance of his research, Passmore said in a LiveScience interview, “The logistics depots provide a picture of exactly where
and how the Germans established
their support network for armies
before the allied invasion of Normandy, how they developed this
network during the invasion and
how the depots were overrun.”
Using the knowledge gained
from the research, the team is
now interested in understanding
whether the allies knew of the fortifications, and, if so, what strategies they undertook to keep them
out of German reach.
Passmore also emphasized the
importance of preserving the archaeology of these battlegrounds,
as they offer insight into the region’s rich history.
UTM professor David Passmore explores an archaeological site.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID PASSMORE.
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Sports
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12 JANUARY 2015
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Student reactions to the Goldring
Centre for High Performance Sport
Students are asked about their thoughts about U of T’s newest athletic facility
Sean Xu
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Toronto is always under construction and it
seems as though not even our esteemed university can escape this trend. This past year,
work was finished on the Goldring Centre for
High Performance Sport.
The sports complex is advertised to accomplish the task of bringing together all members
on campus, including non-athletes. It features
a 2,000-seat basketball and volleyball field
house, as well as research and teaching labs.
The centre also offers a variety of services, such
as the David L. MacIntosh sport medicine clinic
and drop-in classes.
These features come beautifully wrapped
in floor-to-ceiling windows at a $58-million
price tag. When framed in terms of student
contribution, it is important to determine
whether this centre is used by the student
body in a manner both reflective of and beneficial to the diversity we find on campus.
What distinguishes the Goldring Centre as a
unique facet of student life?
The Varsity spoke to students to find out
what they think about the centre, its services,
and their experience using its facilities.
Travis Southin
first-year, Munk School of Global Affairs Master’s
It’s all about Goldring’s windows for
Southin.
“There’s no windows in the Athletic Centre
— which is depressing,” he says.
Southin aims to visit the facility two to
three times a week, and he’s found the centre to be fairly supportive.
“They sort of come up and give you
tips on how you’re doing it correctly or
incorrectly… if you welcome that. If not,
they leave you alone, which is probably
good too,” he explains.
Kat Ouzounian
fourth-year, English and philosophy
Peter Harris
third-year, human geography
Ouzounian decided to take yoga classes
at Goldring because the session they offered fit her schedule best. “I didn’t actually expect to be in the building much, so
I was kind of surprised when a class that
was catered to me was offered — I’m definitely not a high performance athlete by
any stretch of the imagination,” she says.
Though she loves the newness of the
building, Ouzounian believes that the
Goldring Centre, “could use some better
signage and directions, but that’s a pretty
common problem in all of the university’s
buildings. I guess it could be helped a bit
more by the sort of signage they use at
Robarts.”
As a member of the tootball team, Harris
comes to the Goldring Centre fairly regularly
— about four to five times a week.
Verdict? “The facilities here are impeccable. They’re really second to none, especially the weight room and basketball
court,” he says.
Harris also praised the centre’s location;
it’s right next to the track after all.
“During the warmer seasons you can go
over [to the track], do a couple of runs, work
on the field, and then come over here and do
a lift or whatever exercise you want,” he says.
But his favourite part about the centre so
far is the basketball court. “I’ve watched a
few basketball games already, and it’s quite
the atmosphere to be here when the crowds
are going crazy,” he describes.
Alina Usataia
fifth-year life science
Alex Jeong
first-year, Rotman Commerce
Areeba Imran and Seong Lee
first-year, life science
Usataia’s first time at the Goldring Centre was a matter of convenience; she
had originally been heading to Hart
House.
Speaking about the intimidation factor experienced at some at U of T’s athletic facilities, she says: “Here, I think
the intimidating part is that it’s a brand
new building, so you’re assuming all
the varsity athletes come here, but it
wasn’t that bad.”
For his first time at the Goldring Centre,
Jeong came looking to play intramural volleyball. Alex finds the building “a lot nicer”
than most of its competition.
“The AC seems a bit less well-kept, and
the courts on the top floor of the AC are not
really suitable for what I’d be looking for.
I’m kind of more into sports involving hardwood floors,” he says.
This was Imran’s second time at the centre. She liked it so much that she brought
a friend.
“The view is so much better, much
brighter that it just makes you want to
work out even more,” she explains.
As commuter students, Imran and
Lee appreciate that the centre is close
to St. George station.
Imran hasn’t experienced crowding
at Goldring like some have at the other
athletic facilities.
When asked whether students would be
coming back to the centre, the answer was an
overwhelming “yes.” The convenient location
of the building benefits commuter students and
devoted athletes alike. The staff is clearly making the effort to entrench the centre into the U
of T community through support and services.
Booking off levels for Varsity athletes or
other groups and leaving other levels public
takes away from the potential intimidation
factor. The practice also takes away from
crowding; and Goldring’s presence on campus inherently affects crowding at the other
athletic facilities as well.
In the future, the Goldring Centre could benefit from improving its signs and promoting its
services. Some students were unaware that the
centre offered drop-in classes.
Students share the burden of maintaining
the centre’s worth. As Harris put it: “As long
as we have it to our availability as students, we
should probably be using it.”
PHOTOS BY JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
VARSITY SPORTS
22 Vol. CXXXV, No. 14
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VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Liam Fox is not the average student
athlete. More than the obligations that
come with both, Fox also coaches the
nordic skiing team.
His responsibilities can be
overwhelming, and in order to
manage all of them, he must prioritize
certain aspects over others.
“With 20 hours per week of
training, plus having to teach new
skiers, dole out equipment, plan out
the race season, and still get 8 hours of
sleep, it’s not rare that my school work
comes to a grinding halt,” says Fox.
The team’s previous coach, Hans
Fischer, had 12 years of combined
experience as an athlete and a coach.
When he stepped down from the role
two seasons ago, Fox and former cocaptain Mary Qiu stepped up to fill
his role.
Fox recalls, “We had to recruit new
athletes, go to an absurd number of
meetings, manage team finances,
order team clothing, and many more
mundane administrative tasks — all
while trying to teach a group of novice
athletes how to ski.”
The nordic ski team trains athletes
whose skills range significantly.
Despite the variance, Fox emphasizes
that the goal is to have all athletes
racing as soon as possible.
“I’ve found that… the best learning
outcomes occur when you’re in the
thick of it, making your own mistakes,
acknowledging them, and becoming
a better athlete as a result,” says Fox.
To be competitive with schools that
have advantages over U of T’s team,
such as Carleton University, Fox insists
that athletes start training with the
team in September. He emphasizes
the need to start the season early and
build a sense of team interdependence.
Fox is a firm believer that while
attitude may not be everything, it
certainly is a factor in athletic success.
“We don’t necessarily love waking
up at 5:30 am to roller ski down
Lakeshore. We do it because that’s
what it takes for us to be successful,
and we still complain about it, from
time to time,” he says.
Fox realizes that he and his
teammates are students first and
athletes second. “None of us expects
to make the Olympics; we’re all just
out here to have a good time and be
as fit as we can,” he says.
Fox believes that this season is
different from the last, which he
describes as a “rebuilding year.”
“We now have a core number of
athletes who I believe will stick with
us for a few seasons,” he explains,
adding: “The nature of sport
involvement at the university level
is transient, as most of us are only
here for four years, and many of us
have other priorities besides skiing. I
imagine that in some regards, every
new season will be a ‘rebuilding year’,
but I’m happy now that we have this
core,” Fox adds.
The Nordic Skiing team, along with
many “third tier” varsity teams, faced
funding cuts this year after the release
of the new sports model.
Fox recognizes this as a problem,
stating that: “Most sports that don’t
draw the kinds of crowds that a
football or hockey game will draw.
As corporate entities, universities
understand well that their brand
won’t be promoted as effectively
through their nordic ski teams.”
While unsure of how the team will
overcome this challenge, Fox urges
the university for support.
The Nordic Skiing Team trekked to
Collingwood for the World Junior/U23
Trials at Highlands Nordic this past
weekend, and continue to compete in
both the Ontario University Athletics
championships and the Ontario Cup
series. Fox is confident that U of T will
have one podium finish this year.
Review: Flexibility fusion
Hart House fitness class offers an hour of relaxing stretches
Matthew Manhire
VARSITY CONTRIBUTOR
Recently, I trekked over to the Exercise Room at Hart House to join in the
weekly Flexibility Fusion class, held
at 10:00 am. My body was exhausted
from weathering the onslaught of winter and I was yearning for an hour of
quiet, reflective, and relaxing stretching; I was not disappointed.
The class setting of vintage wood
grain décor is warm and inviting, bringing participants back to the 1940s. A
soundtrack of babbling water played
softly as I entered the room and placed
my mat on the floor.
The small class size was a welcome
bonus and made it easy to feel comfortable while contorting my body in
all sorts of unflattering ways. My only
initial qualm was that the room could
have been just a touch warmer.
The instructor, Debbie, had a calm
presence and guided the intimate class
through a series of stretches and mobility exercises that tickled out pops,
creaks, and groans from my muscles.
She focused a great deal of attention
on hip-openers, holding poses for what
seemed like an entire class length.
The pelvic area of the body is
known to be a vault of stored tension,
and it was pleasing to focus a great
deal of mindfulness on this part of the
body, allowing the strong tendons to
release their stresses.
The instructor’s voice walking you
through the physiology of the movement added a mental element to the
sensory-rich experience.
While going through the class, I
did wish that the lights had been
dimmed or turned off entirely, just
to enhance the ambience of the space.
In the future, I will also make sure
to bring a thera-band or some sort of
rope so that I can deepen and modify
the stretches and poses.
Flexibility Fusion offers an experience true to its name: a chance to align
your body, create space between the
joints, experience a deeper range of
mobility, and engage safely in a conversation with one’s physical self.
This is not a class for those seeking
intense cardiovascular or muscle-building training. But if you would like to
begin or end your week in serenity by
enhancing your body awareness and
recovery, then Flexibility Fusion may
have what you seek.
Hart House offers a range of fitness classes free for students. JENNIFER SU/THE VARSITY
var.st/sports
VARSITY SPORTS
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015
23
How it works: K-tape
The popular athletic tape, explained
Anthony Piruzza
VARSITY STAFF
Recovering from injuries and alleviating pain are of importance to highlevel athletes whose goal is to return
to action as soon as possible — ideally, without the help of painkillers.
A modern response to this persistent
problem is Kinesio tape (K-tape), the
colourful bands of tape that have exploded in popularity among athletes
of all levels over the last five years.
K-tape originated in the work of
Kenzo Kase, a Japanese chiropractor who developed the kinesio taping method in 1975.
Numerous competing companies
have since sprung up to offer kinesiology tape, including KT Tape and
RockTape. These K-tape companies
saw publicity on an international
scale at the 1988 Seoul Olympics,
where athletes and their trainers began to adopt Kase’s taping methods.
The popularity of K-tape intensified after top athletes, notably
biker Lance Armstrong and volleyball player Kerri Walsh, began
using the distinctive coloured tape
during competition at the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
K-tape targets injured tissue by raising a layer of skin and muscle, allowing for increased flow of bodily fluids
to reach the injured area. These fluids,
including blood and lymphatic fluid,
are essential to the healing process,
thereby shortening recovery time.
While this process reduces heal-
ELHAM NUMAN/THE VARSITY
ing time, K-tape also alleviates pain
and supports the muscle during
movement. Proper taping increases
a targeted muscle’s ability to contract
properly, stabilizes the muscle, and
reduces the pain associated with
moving the tissue.
Although taping was used by athletes to treat injuries before Kase’s
developments, K-tape differs from
traditional taping techniques.
Prior to K-tape, traditional tape was
used to restrict the mobility of injured
body parts in order to reduce the risk
of aggravation. This method was effective in preventing further injury,
but it limited blood flow and slowed
down the healing process. K-tape aims
to stabilize the inflamed tissues without restricting its motion. The modern
tape was designed to have an elasticity
that replicates human skin. This elasticity allows for ease of motion and for
the tape to apply pressure after it has
been stretched.
Dr. Doug Richards, a sports science
professor at the University of Toronto,
says that the primary difference between the two taping methods is the
elasticity of the tape.
“‘K tape’ is highly compliant
both along the length of the tape,
and across its width. Standard
‘trainer’s tape’ is relatively stiff,”
says Richards.
The popularity and visibility of Ktape brought increased levels of scrutiny over its unconfirmed medical
claims. This skepticism was summed
up in a 2012 study, published in the
journal Sports Medicine, that reviewed existing research on K-tape.
The study found inconclusive
evidence supporting K-tape’s
claims to pain relief and a widened range of motion.
Richards argues that top-level
athletes are looking for immediate
improvements to their performance
and they are not willing to wait for
scientific research to be published.
“When we lack evidence-based
Rx, we follow heuristics. The prime
heuristic is ‘do no harm’ — that is,
you may not know if you are helping,
but at least don’t make them worse.
I suspect K-tape is pretty safe, so I
don’t think of it as a harmful practice,” says Richards.
Another response to the criticism
of K-tape is that its effects are psychological. Wearing the tape allows
athletes to compete with less fear of
aggravating their injured muscle, resulting in improved performance.
Despite the concerns surrounding the science behind K-tape’s
claims, its popularity suggests that
it is here to stay as a viable alternative for athletes facing the wear
and tear of competition.
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