Issue 7, October 20, 2025

THE VARSITY

PERIPHERAL IMMUNE SYSTEM TAKES CENTER STAGE

On the 2025 Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine

Physics Nobel Prize 2025 goes to quantum computing pioneers Nobel Prize in Chemistry honours the architects of metal-organic frameworks

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The Varsity acknowledges that our office is built on the traditional territory of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat, the Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Journalists have historically harmed Indigenous communities by overlooking their stories, contributing to stereotypes, and telling their stories without their input. Therefore, we make this acknowledgement as a starting point for our responsibility to tell those stories more accurately, critically, and in accordance with the wishes of Indigenous Peoples.

UTMSU “Honouring Our Martyrs” commemoration called “hateful” by Stephen Lecce

Commemoration on the two-year anniversary of October 7 attacks provoked praise and criticism

Mashiyat Ahmed Varsity Contributor

On October 6 at 7:08 pm, Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Mines, and former Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, reacted to an Instagram post shared by the UTMSU, the Muslim Students Association (MSA), and the Association of Palestinian Students (APS). The post was promoting an upcoming student commemoration, “Honouring Our Martyrs,” for Palestinian casualties since the October 7 attacks two years prior.

Lecce’s reaction on X criticizes the commemoration, writing that it is “appalling to think that this morally degenerate group will glorify the barbaric murder of 1,200 kids, mothers, fathers, and grandparents. This hateful, anti-semitic, and anti-democratic mob should be condemned and banned from any campus.”

Later on October 7, the MSA released a statement on Instagram, which states that Lecce’s words are “defamatory and completely false,” and that the Association is “in consultation with legal counsel” and “will take necessary steps to defend [themselves] against [Lecce’s] defamatory allegations.”

“Honouring Our Martyrs” commemoration At 3:00 pm on October 7, the UTMSU, MSA, and APS together hosted “Honouring Our Martyrs”, a student gathering outside of UTM’s Student Center to “commemorate two years of genocide in Palestine.”

UTMSU flyers were posted on the day with community guidelines, which read that all participants are encouraged to adhere to the union’s code of conduct and “to ensure a peaceful, respectful, and safe environment for everyone present.”

The commemoration began with a land acknowledgement and an equity statement by the UTMSU, followed by several speeches from guest speakers from the APS.

UTMSU’s President Andrew Park said, “We gather to remember the martyrs of Gaza; the mothers, their children, doctors, teachers, the students — who, just like us, have been murdered.” Referring to the scale of destruction in Gaza as a result of the “Zionist Occupation,” Park continued: “Every school, every library, every space of knowledge and hope have been reduced to rubble.”

Shortly after, one of the speeches was disrupted by a member of the public who shouted, “Blame Hamas” and “All Arabs are terrorists.”

The speaker continued regardless.

On October 8, the UTMSU released a statement explaining the intentions of their commemoration, reaffirming that the UTMSU “stands in solidarity with all the lives lost on October 7th, 2023, and throughout the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” The statement also elaborates on the historic role student activism and union pressures play in the fight for justice, from organizing “against the South African apartheid regime to resisting global systems of oppression today.”

Student response

Several of UTMSU’s Instagram posts received comments expressing both praise and criticism of the commemoration.

In an email interview with The Varsity, fourthyear student Silas Liening — who has been a part of the online backlash on Instagram — shared his experiences attending the commemoration, writing that, “ ‘Honouring Our Martyrs’ is dynamite in terms of phrasing, especially given the context of the chosen date.”

When asked whether he agreed that Jewish communities need to be acknowledged in these conversations, Liening wrote, “I just think that almost no acknowledgement of [Israeli or Jewish] sorrows and losses is, while not explicitly wanted, implicitly dehumanizing.”

However, other students disagree. The Varsity spoke with recent UTM graduate Yasmine Benabderrahmane, who said that, “there needs to be caution and regard to the Jewish body on our campuses, but I don’t think it’s fair to continuously police the way Palestinians choose to advocate for themselves and police the way that the [Palestine liberation] movement is unfolding.”

Additionally, Benabderrahmane believes it would have been “unfair” for the UTMSU to choose a different date for the commemoration because “The genocide on Gaza was also assumed on October 7.”

Benabderrahmane said that she is proud of the UTMSU’s stance on Palestine: “In the face of genocide, there needs to be a stance taken.”

The UTMSU’s Equity Statement states that the union has a “collective responsibility to create a space that is inclusive and welcomes discussion.” To uphold this “responsibility,” the UTMSU encourages students to voice any opinions or concerns about the October 7 commemoration through informal and formal complaints.

Additionally, the Jewish Faculty Network is offering listening sessions for any UTM students who wish to confidentially share thoughts and reflect on how the October 7 commemoration may impact or relate to Jewish communities on campus. According to the UTMSU, these listening sessions are meant to “increase understanding and support responsibility in the UTMSU community in a climate of division and ongoing trauma.”

October 8 student rally for Palestine stops traffic

Student groups demand that U of T divest from Israeli post-secondary institutions

Emma Dobrovnik Assistant News Editor

At 4:00 pm on October 8, the U of T Occupy for Palestine, the Palestinian Culture Club, the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) Caucus, and Tkarón:to Students for Palestine (TSSP) student rally marched from Sidney Smith Hall to Simcoe Hall, stopping traffic on St. George St. and Hoskin Ave. along the way.

The student groups are demanding that U of T cut ties with Israeli post-secondary institutions such as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), Tel Aviv University, and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

The rally was one of four events held during TSSP’s “Week of Rage,” which took place from October 7–10.

The rally Campus security arrived on the scene at 4:41 pm and followed the rally from St. George

Street to Convocation Hall. Organizers led the procession with a banner that read “U of T Partners with Genocidal Universities – Drop HUJI,” while students carried signs such as “Jews for Palestine” and “Stop Starving Gaza.”

In an opening address at Sidney Smith Hall, TSSP called on the University to divest from Israeli academic partnerships.

“Research partnerships, donor money, exchange programs — they’re not just academic footnotes, they are part of an infrastructure that legitimizes and nourishes occupation and violence. If our schools remain partners with these institutions, they become part of the problem.”

Amid honking cars, the rally walked down Hoskin Ave. and stopped in front of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, and concluded at Simcoe Hall. After bannering outside Simcoe Hall, the protest’s crowd joined the People’s Rally in solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla.

The Varsity Newswire

On Friday, October 17, Melanie Woodin was installed as U of T’s 17th President at Convocation Hall in a ceremony that set the tone for her tenure. In her speech, Woodin spoke of her career as a scientist, drawing attention to U of T’s international reputation as a leader in research and discovery. Woodin made clear that U of T’s role extends beyond campus and the immediate Toronto community.

“We are witnessing a dangerous erosion of the rules-based international order, widening inequality and deepening polarization, and almost daily reminders of the fragility of democracy. Universities are no longer fully trusted as authoritative sources of knowledge, or as bastions of free inquiry. Scholars are facing new threats to academic freedom, including censorship,” Woodin said to the room of gowned academics.

“People everywhere are looking to our country to be a beacon of light in this time of gathering darkness... [As Canada’s] flagship university, we must rise to meet this moment. We must bring the full power of our enterprise to bear in service to society, as we have done so often before.”

TSSP’s demands

TSSP is calling on U of T to sever institutional ties to Israeli academic institutions that either operate in settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or “support or sustain the apartheid policies of the state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

TSSP noted U of T’s history of collaborative research with HUJI, claiming that U of T and HUJI published over 300 joint research papers between 2018–2020. In a petition demanding an academic boycott of Israel, TSSP added that over 50 students have gone on to exchange in HUJI over the past five years.

In April 2024, then President Meric Gertler formally responded to Occupy for Palestine’s demand that the university “terminate all part-

nerships with Israeli academic institutions that operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or sustain the apartheid policies, occupation and illegal settlement of these territories.” Gertler said that “this demand is at odds with the University’s longstanding opposition to academic boycotts.”

When asked whether the university’s stance on divesting from Israeli institutions has changed under President Melanie Woodin, a university spokesperson wrote to The Varsity that “claims connecting the university to Israeli military action and assertions regarding research partnerships, donor money and student exchange trips have no basis in fact” and that the university continues to follow its policies on divestment and academic boycotts.

Many distinguished members of the academic community were in attendance, such as President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Waterloo Dr. Vivek Goel, and Vice President and Provost of U of T Professor Trevor Young. Mayor Olivia Chow; Ontario Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security Nolan Quinn; and Chief Claire Sault of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation also spoke at the ceremony.

October 9 Academic Board meeting addresses UTMSU event honouring Palestinian “martyrs” — Simcoe Hall

Byline: Emma Dobrovnik, Assistant News Editor

On October 9, the U of T Academic Board addressed a University of Toronto Mississauga Student Union’s (UTMSU) event that honoured Palestinian “martyrs.” The event was held on October 7 and was said to “commemorate two years of genocide in Gaza.”

U of T Vice-President and UTM Principal Alexandra Gillespie said that the title and date of the event “did not rise to the level of a violation of law or policy.”

Vice-Provost, Students Sandy Welsh also noted that an incident occurred at UTM on October 7 that affected members of the UTM Jewish Students Association. The incident is currently being investigated by UTM campus safety.

‘No Tyrants’: Toronto rallies alongside millions of Americans in Saturday’s ‘No

Kings’ protests — US Consulate General

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

On Saturday, between 700–1,000 people attended the “No Tyrants” Rally held in front of the US Consulate General at 360 University Ave. This protest, organized by the Toronto chapter of Democrats Abroad, was the Canadian adaptation of this weekend’s anti-Trump “No Kings” protests across the US — the largest single-day peaceful demonstration in US history, with nearly seven million Americans in attendance.

On the Democrats Abroad website, protesters were instructed to “dress as the cutest non-violent character you can imagine to defy the false narrative that antifascists are terrorists and join the rally in solidarity.”

In a statement to The Varsity, Julia Buchanan, Chair of the Toronto Chapter of Democrats Abroad, wrote of the rally, “A resounding success. it was safe peaceful and festive. Dancing singing chanting. Costumes! Frogs, funshine care bear, dr seuss, muppets [sic].”

Prince Andrew relinquishes ‘Duke of York’ title following Epstein-related allegations — Buckingham Palace

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

Prince Andrew announced Friday that he will give up his ‘Duke of York’ title and other honours in the face of renewed attention to his connection to sex offender Jeffrey

Epstein. “The continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family,” Andrew wrote in a Buckingham Palace statement.

This decision followed the release of excerpts from Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s new posthumous memoir, in which she alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17 years old. In his statement, as in the past, Andrew denies the allegations.

“The time to talk”: Carney rejects Ford’s call for retaliatory counter-tariffs

Ottawa

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s call to reinstate retaliatory tariffs against the United States, saying prior to his visit with Ford, “There’s times to hit back and there’s times to talk, and right now is the time to talk.”

Carney said he has been involved in “deep negotiations” with Washington on several crucial sectors impacted by aggressive US tariffs, such as aluminum and steel, and the energy sector. Currently, Canada, among other countries, faces a high 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum, 25 per cent on autos and auto parts, and 45 per cent on lumber products, among other tariffs.

St. Stephen-in-the-Fields church encampment cleared into dump trucks under Ontario Fire Marshal order

City awarded Trinity alum Rev. Maggie Helwig’s book on encampments the night before

Ella MacCormack and Jade Park News Editor and

On October 16, the St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Anglican Church encampment was cleared out with a wheel loader and dump truck. The encampment, which housed around 10 people at the time of removal, has been in the church yard since the spring of 2022.

Reverend Maggie Helwig, a Trinity College alum, has advocated with the church for the encampment to stay, although the church’s front yard is city property.

The night before the encampment’s removal, the city awarded Rev. Helwig the 2025 Toronto Book Award for her book, Encampment: Resistance, Grace and an Unhoused Community. Passages from the book were read out over a speaker as the wheel loader tore down various tarps and tents at 3:20 pm.

By 6:00 pm, four or five dump trucks’ worth of items from the encampment had been cleared.

The clearing On October 14, Toronto Fire Services (TFS) issued an inspection order stating that the encampment’s accumulated combustible debris would likely injure or kill someone if a fire started.

Helwig told TorontoToday that on October 15, a notice from the Ontario Fire Marshal was posted on the church door about the plan to clear out the yard.

The city offered all the residents a shelter referral, and various Toronto social services, including the Streets to Homes Street Outreach & Support Program, searched for individuals who needed any support.

Debra, an outreach worker at The Neighbourhood Group, told The Varsity that the encampment was a “social neighbourhood,” which had around “10–12 people here at any given time sleeping, but it kept 25 people rotating a place to stay safely.”

“You look around, you see the important stuff that they could have kept. You get a little

U of T smokers on U of T’s non-smoking policy

What the smoking ban on campus means six years later

Nora Zolfaghari Senior Copy Editor

On January 1, 2019, U of T adopted a smokefree policy, which meant that “students, faculty and staff – as well as visitors and the surrounding community – [could] enjoy a safe and healthy environment.” At nearly every entry point to campus, “no smoking” signs were erected, declaring U of T proudly smoke-free. Despite this, many within the university’s student body indulge in their vice –– smoking.

When and where students smoke Kate Howden, a non-smoker and a fourth-year studying international relations, messaged The Varsity that many “people smoke in a pavlovian [sic.] way when they’re studying like at the library.” For many, especially around midterm season, smoking is a way to help themselves deal with their workload.

Victoria Lee, a third-year student studying English, echoed this message. Although they only smoke a couple of times a week, they told The Varsity in an interview that “it’s almost exclusively a ‘rewards’ thing.” After a midterm, a cigarette was the mouthpiece to Lee’s misery.

When they saw their peers outside after class, they thought, “Let’s make this thing a

City workers pile up what remains of the encampment on the corner of Bellevue Avenue and College Street.

when they say, “Move.” It’s emotional.”

One community member watching the clearing told The Varsity that residents “slowly cleared their stuff until one o’clock. If they went to a shelter, you are only allowed two bags of stuff, no matter the size of the shelter or the size of storage there. So they — it’s a terrible deal — only get to keep two garbage bags of stuff.”

“Normally they pretend it’s not going into the garbage… but I think because these people are like, yes, we are leaving this behind, they’re not even pretending.”

The church put up a sign that read, “The city will be here to clear everything [sic]. If you have anything you want to keep safe, the church has offered to store a garbage bag for each person. If it’s important/valuable to you [sic], please take this time to sort through things + prepare for the morning.”

Different security staff said they were not allowed to pass anything over from within the

fenced area, including returning a rake to the church staff. Later, when a distraught individual wrapped in blankets and the reverend approached the fence and requested a gift card on the ground, one of the private security guards obliged.

At around 6:20 pm, cement blocks were lowered onto the cleared and swept plot where the encampment used to be.

Referring to the concrete blocks, Debora said, “It’ll probably be years before we get grass again.”

As of October 18, the fenced-off area has a new notice: “No person shall, on a street, sidewalk, or boulevard: camp, dwell, or lodge; obstruct encumber, damage, or foul; install or place any unauthorized encroachment, object, article, or thing; set a fire or create a dangerous condition.”

Taped onto the fence, a cardboard sign pointed to the notice with the words, “Jesus does not endorse this message.”

party,” and joined them for a cigarette.

Fourth-year linguistics student Cas Duarte told The Varsity that she “and her friends would go in between [Rowell Jackman Hall] in [Victoria College] and Loretto [next to the] dumpster… to smoke… all the time.”

While prohibiting cigarette and vape usage is one aspect of the smoke-free policy, the other is smoking marijuana. Although she’s cut down on smoking weed over the years, Duarte said that when she does, she is more vigilant due to its more noticeable smell.

Varsity Design Editor Brennan Karunaratne noted that U of T policy deters him “a little bit” from smoking on campus, but seeing the nosmoking signs often makes him think, “Oh, cigarette! I could go for a cigarette.”

Duarte argues, “I feel like if we got rid of the no smoking on campus thing, [smokers] wouldn’t be multiplying… people are smoking because they’re smokers.”

Policy in practice

Six years have passed since the smoke-free policy was put into effect. While UTM and UTSC have officially designated smoking areas, UTSG does not. Smoking is permitted on city property at UTSG. That includes many sidewalks and streets on the UTSG campus that are city

property, like St. George Street itself. Today, many garbage bins across campus have a sticker not permitting cigarette butts from being thrown out. Both Duarte and Lee try their best not to litter. Lee “[finds herself] holding onto stuff for a pretty long time,” particularly in her plastic bag with a monkey pattern on it.

Karunaratne noted that “We used to have [cigarette butt disposals] on campus,” but the only one left that he could think of was in front of the Madison Avenue Pub.

Without a place to dispose of cigarette butts, many students will instead toss their cigarettes on the ground. Both Duarte and Karunaratne refer to the “carpet of cigarette butts” on the stairs behind the Robarts Commons. Duarte mentions that, “You can actually put your cigarettes out on the wall. It’s wonderful.”

While standing on a balcony above the campus security office, looking down at their cars, Karunaratne said, “[Campus safety

officers] don’t care that much,” he commented. “Dude, I’ve smoked with campus security.”

The smoke-free policy reads, “Additional training is provided to Campus Safety on expectations for enforcement and approaching/ engaging with community members who are in violation of the smoke-free campus policy. Enforcement measures will depend on the individual’s relationship with the university, the nature of the infraction, and the place in which it occurred.”

The existing City of Toronto smoking bylaw states that if you want to smoke, it has to happen at least nine metres away from any entrance or exit from a public building. However, this bylaw “does not extend to vaping.”

Karunaratne mentions this policy, saying that, “People are allowed to vape anywhere, so we’ll smoke as we please.”

U of T’s smoke-free policy applies to all smoking and vaping activities.

Business & Labour

October 21, 2025

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biz@thevarsity.ca

Soon, you may be paid to park your electric car

A new partnership between U of T and Nissan is seeking to lower energy costs

Ilyass Mofaddel Varsity Contributor

Imagine the GTA hit by a summer heatwave. The surge in demand for air conditioning would immensely strain the province’s electrical infrastructure. The electrical grid becomes less reliable, with blackouts and power outages becoming more prevalent.

A groundbreaking new partnership between the U of T and Nissan — a major Japanese motor company — is pioneering an alternative future; one where electric vehicles (EVs) can power electricity grids while earning their owners a few extra dollars.

On August 26, the two parties launched a multiyear research collaboration to turn EVs from simple transportation devices into smart batteries that can feed electricity back into the grid when it’s needed most.

The agreement is facilitated by U of T’s Lawson Climate Institute, which is dedicated to developing sustainable technologies and practical climate policies. The partnership will combine the specialized knowledge of the university’s Grid Modernization Centre with Nissan’s extensive industry experience to unlock the potential of vehicle-to-grid technology (V2G).

The technology fueling the partnership V2G technology transforms the relationship between a car and the power grid from a oneway street into a two-way highway. Currently, an EV owner must plug their car into the grid to draw electricity to charge their battery.

V2G systems will also enable the grid to draw energy from an EV’s stored electricity. This same car could even directly power a home during an outage. This function could fundamentally reshape

how Canada approaches energy storage, as EVs can be used to provide electricity during times of high demand.

The vision is to create what energy experts refer to as a “virtual power plant.” Instead of a single facility, this new type of power plant would consist of thousands of individual EVs, all connected and coordinated through intelligent software. When the grid needs a boost, the system could draw a small, almost unnoticeable amount of energy from each participating vehicle. Collectively, this distributed network of car batteries would function as one enormous power source, capable of stabilizing the grid in moments of peak demand.

“Electric vehicles have the potential to not only decarbonize everyday transportation for drivers, but also to serve as a crucial part of smarter, greener, stronger electrical grids for the future,” explained Atsushi Teraji, the General Manager of Nissan’s EV System Laboratory in Japan, to the press. “Collaborative research with the University of Toronto in this crucial field will help us develop real-world applications for the power of EVs and V2X technology.”

Solving current challenges through their partnership

“Some of the challenges to be overcome in order to maximize the potential of vehicle-to-grid technology include privacy, cybersecurity, and the complexity of both the energy management system and communication standards,” noted Timothy Chan in an interview with Electric Autonomy. Chan is a mechanical and industrial engineering professor who also serves as U of T’s Associate Vice-President and the ViceProvost of Strategic Initiatives.

The cybersecurity component is critical; researchers must design a system that is impervious to attacks that could destabilize the grid. Furthermore, the system must protect the privacy of vehicle owners. To tackle this, the U of T team will leverage edge computing — a method where data is processed locally rather than being sent to a central cloud, minimizing security vulnerabilities.

Leading this ambitious project is Olivier Trescases, a professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His expertise will be complemented by that of Baochun Li, another professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who will apply his knowledge of AI to develop smart energy management systems.

The future effects of the partnership

The societal and environmental benefits of U of T and Nissan’s collaboration are immense. During

$14 billion raised for U of T entrepreneurship funding over five years

U of T Entrepreneurship shares their achievements in their 2024–25 annual report

participants refine their startup ideas to develop a real business.

“It was a record setting year,” said Jon French, the director of University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE) in the centre’s annual report, and the stats seem to back it up.

This year, U of T was named the #1 university in the world for sustainability for the second year in a row by the QS Sustainability Rankings and ranks among the top 20 globally for entrepreneurship. Over the past five years, startups born out of U of T accelerators and innovation hubs have raised more than $14 billion in funding and created over 20,000 jobs. Although impressive, these figures are not surprising given how UTE has been cultivating its network.

Building a startup powerhouse

UTE’s network now includes 12 entrepreneurship accelerators across its three campuses. Accelerators are programs that help early-stage companies grow with mentorship, resources, and more in exchange for equity. The network also supports more than 1,300 entrepreneurial teams.

Moreover, UTE has more than 23,000 square metres of space for innovation inside the stateof-the-art Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, which houses Canada’s largest concentration of student- and faculty-led startups.

The results of these investments are evident. More than 1,500 venture-backed startups have been created, and U of T ranks among the top five universities worldwide for university-managed incubators — these are programs that help

Equity at the core of innovation

A central theme of this year’s report is the university’s growing focus on inclusive innovation.

The Black Founders Network (BFN), a community supporting Black entrepreneurs, is a leading example of this.

BFN supported 308 startups over the past year while raising $42 million for Black-led ventures. Events like the annual Black Career Conference, where students learn about potential career paths in various industries, also help provide resources to Black founders and youth. A pitch competition allowed top startups to receive funding, while various Black job seekers met with organizations to find opportunities.

Similarly, the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), which connects early-stage companies with academic partners, hospitals, and investors to advance technologies that deliver real-world impact, is driving equity in healthcare innovation. Of its 342 active ventures, 60 per cent are led by women and 28 per cent by Black founders.

Initiatives like the Indigenous Geodesic Greenhouse Domes, which are 7.32-meter greenhouse domes near the UTSC campus, aim to further support Indigenous communities to promote sustainable agriculture, food security, and employment.

International success stories

UTE startups like CentML — which aims to optimize machine learning workloads, and Blue J

periods of high demand, electric utilities rely on peaker plants, which are notoriously insufficient and used only as a last resort. A fully realized V2G network could significantly reduce, or even eliminate, the need for these polluting plants.

On an individual level, an EV with a full battery could power essential appliances in a home for days during a blackout. It also opens up the possibility for EV owners to earn passive income by selling their stored energy back to the utility grid during peak hours.

In the age of artificial intelligence, every flexible source of power matters, and EVs are uniquely positioned to help.

“Our strategic collaboration with Nissan is essential to developing breakthrough research in cleaner mobility and energy storage,” Chan said in a U of T News article. “This partnership will not only accelerate innovation but also ensure that our research has real-world impact.”

Legal — which uses AI to improve processes in tax law, have been making waves not just at home but across the world. CentML was recently acquired by Nvidia, while Blue J Legal is now valued at over $420 million.

Much of the centre’s global reach can be attributed to strategic partnerships and initiatives that connect U of T’s innovation network to the world.

Through the Africa Health Collaborative, the university partners with nine higher-education institutions across 14 countries in Africa, supporting 81 ventures and helping to build new health innovation ecosystems. The U of T’s African Impact Challenge has funded more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs on the continent, while partnerships with groups like C100 have opened doors to Silicon Valley investors and mentors.

Events and opportunities

Beyond accelerators and partnerships, UTE fostered a vibrant entrepreneurship culture through events and platforms that connect founders and investors over the past year.

Tech Week, one of the standout events of the year, brought together innovators from across

disciplines to discuss emerging technologies, network with industry leaders, and showcase student-led ventures.

Pitch competitions such as Pitch with a Twist and FemSTEM offered underrepresented founders a chance to present their ideas to investors and industry experts, while the Startup Holiday Market highlighted the diversity and creativity within U of T’s entrepreneurial community by allowing attendees to find products not available in other stores.

UTE also extended its impact by connecting students and alumni with real-world opportunities. On average, its dedicated job board features an average of 1,250 live postings across 350 companies, reflecting the growing demand for talent within the startup ecosystem.

“We have an ambitious year ahead and look forward to welcoming the community into our spaces across the tri-campus and virtually,” French said in the report. “Supporting homegrown innovation has never been more important.”

With billions raised and thousands of jobs created while keeping equity at the focal point, UTE is hoping to shape a startup culture that reflects the society it serves.

Opinion

October 21 2025

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Survivors call, but no one answers A university that ignores survivors’ calls silences their voices

Lorraine Pan Varsity Contributor

Content Warning: This article mentions misogyny, sexism, racism, and violence.

The Prevention, Empowerment, Advocacy, Response, for Survivors (PEARS) Project ––a grassroots organization that advocates on behalf of survivors at U of T and provides peer support to survivors of sexual violence at U of T –– posted a video on April 9, about their communication with the U of T Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Centre (SVPSC) in which there was no one answering phone calls during their work hours.

Instead, survivors were directed to leave a voicemail. The voicemail box was full, leaving survivors unable to leave messages.

I believe the backlog of voicemails indicates an ignorance towards survivors from the SVPSC, a resource centre many survivors rely on. The PEARS Project reported this issue to the SVPSC. The SVPSC replied in an email that they had retested their phone lines, and they confirmed that they were accepting new voicemails.

Despite this, it remains unclear whether the SVPSC has reviewed or responded to the accumulation of voicemails. In addition, the SVPSC provided no explanation for the root cause of this issue, nor had they proposed any measures to prevent similar situations in the future.

I believe U of T’s support for survivors falls short; rather, the university’s inadequate response mechanisms and lack of seriousness towards survivors seeking help risk subjecting them to further trauma and secondary harm.

As an educational institution with a duty to protect and support its students, I believe U of T should do a better job at providing students with information on community resources, informing them of available accommodations, and ensuring that these supports are actually available to survivors.

How survivors are made vulnerable on campus

This is not the first time U of T has demonstrated a dismissive attitude towards survivors. In March, the PEARS Project updated its document listing 15 professors who are alleged by the PEARS project to be “problematic and/or predatory.” Yet, most of them continue to work on our campus or at other institutions, facing effectively no investigation or punishment.

With long-term or tenured positions, those in power can easily exploit their advantages to manipulate and abuse vulnerable students, as they face little risk of dismissal. Meanwhile, students face barriers to speaking up for themselves, and as a result, are often forced to live in fear and trauma.

Power dynamics operate within academic institutions, and when abused, they oppress and harm students. An institution’s tolerance of sexual and gender-based violence leaves survivors in a vulnerable situation. When there is a power imbalance, silence becomes complicity.

It can take survivors hours, weeks, or even months to make a seemingly simple call. I believe U of T’s cold response not only dismisses their attempts to reach out and seek help, but can also damage their hope for seeking help in the future.

Indifference toward victims and survivors is part of rape culture, creating an atmosphere in which victims feel unheard and unsupported. This harm does not only work in aggressive ways as we often assume, but it can also appear in actions that leave survivors feeling powerless or hopeless. When a survivor gathers the courage to confront their traumatic experience and seek help, they should never be turned away.

I believe that it is the responsibility of an educational institution to maintain a safe space for students, to ensure that they have a space to live and study freely with dignity. This includes efforts in sexual violence prevention and survivor support.

U of T fails in preventing sexual harassment

I believe that U of T misses the mark in terms of aligning its efforts to create the safe, inclusive, and equitable space for students it claims to be. Furthermore, I feel that SVPSC’s recent actions go against its stated commitment to welcome people with a “highly skilled and compassionate team.”

The PEARS Project conducted an analysis of U of T’s Review of the Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in 2022. As the PEARS Project noted, Bill 132 requires all Canadian post-secondary institutions to review their sexual violence policies at least once every three years, establishing a legal expectation for these institutions when creating policies to address sexual violence. However, this analysis highlights serious concerns about the review process itself.

The PEARS Project also commented that the university’s review misleads the public, as

it uses language that suggests its authors are external or independent. Notably, the review was conducted by U of T employees — people paid by the university to evaluate its own policy and report their findings to their superiors. This raises concerns about bias and performativity due to the conflicts of interest.

We deserve a safe environment

Known for its humanistic and social science scholarship as a top-ranked university, U of T should not neglect humanistic care in practice. One of the fundamental contributions of the humanities and social sciences lies in deepening our understanding of the structures and functions of history, culture, and society. By examining how history has unfolded and how social systems operate, we can work toward advancing social fairness and justice.

Care and support for survivors are essential to advancing social justice and upholding humanistic values. I believe that U of T’s professed commitment to equality and inclusivity exists only as a superficial statement. Without substantive implementation, it fails survivors and it fails to address the broader problem of gender-based violence on campus.

A genuine commitment to humanistic values is demonstrated through the careful development and effective execution of policies and actions, not merely through words displayed on a website.

Creating a safe environment for students should be just as essential to U of T’s mission as academic excellence and reputation. It is time for a change.

Lorraine Pan is a fourth-year student in Women and Gender Studies. Their research interests lie at the intersection of trans and queer people, (im)migrant communities, and transnational activism. They are also a writer, activist, and illustrator, focusing on feminist movements, disability justice, and transnational solidarity.

Forum: Paper towel removal, is this really doing anything? Two

students share their thoughts on the sustainable bathroom experience at U of T

Lila Sparks and Moeez Nasir Varsity Contributors

U of T recently removed paper towels from many of the washrooms on campus, to make washing your hands at U of T more eco-friendly and reduce waste. Is this really going to have an impact? Is this the right move, or is it an example of performative environmentalism? Here’s what two U of T students had to say.

Small changes for a more sustainable campus

As of August 2025, the Student Leadership Subcommittee of the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS) led an initiative to stop restocking paper towel dispensers in washrooms. This new initiative will only affect washrooms that have energyefficient hand dryers at the St. George campus.

Does this new initiative actually have a positive impact on the environment? I would argue that it does.

Most paper towels can’t actually be recycled. Contrary to popular belief, their manufacturing process and the wood, cardboard, and paper by-products inside most paper towels render them unrecyclable before they can even enter our bathrooms. Therefore, the abundance of paper towel waste that our campus produces every day cannot be disposed of sustainably.

Additionally, multiple studies have proven that hand dryers are significantly more sustainable than paper towels in terms of energy usage. For example, a study from the Science of the Total Environment Journal found that per use, a conventional hand dryer had a smaller environmental impact than using two paper towel pieces from a roll dispenser.

During an interview with Juliette LeBlanc, a second-year student studying political science and peace, conflict, and justice, she was asked whether she had noticed any changes in campus washrooms since paper towels stopped being refilled.

“There has been some bathrooms that normally have an overflow of paper towels that now no longer do,” said LeBlanc, highlighting how many bathrooms are now cleaner.

When asked how she felt about not having access to paper towels anymore, LeBlanc replied, “In peak cold season, I would sometimes find it more hygienic to use a paper towel rather than the hand dryer because you see things [online] that say hand dryers have as much bacteria as the inside of a toilet bowl. But ultimately it just takes a few more seconds to stand there and dry my hands, and it’s a sacrifice I’d be willing to make.”

Similarly, others have been led to believe that hand dryers are less hygienic than paper towels. However, according to a study featured in the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on hand hygiene, results found that there was “no significant difference in the efficacy” between paper towels, cloth towels, and warm air dryers.

Overall, as the most sustainable university in the world, U of T should be taking as many actions as possible to reduce our waste production and increase our sustainability. Moreover, I believe that we should take this step before it is too late.

When asked about whether or not U of T’s decision to eliminate paper towel usage would encourage a similar action in her own life, LeBlanc stated, “I do think, with consistent use

of a hand dryer on campus, it might give me that extra moment of reflection… to instead use the hand dryer rather than opting towards the paper towels, which is an impulse that I might have previously had.”

And that’s exactly what sustainability initiatives aim to do: make small changes that, over time, eventually shift our habits and help to build a more sustainable campus.

Lila Sparks is a second-year student studying peace, conflict, and justice, and international relations.

Performative sustainability

I believe that U of T’s removal of paper towels from washrooms is a form of performative environmentalism, designed to make the university appear as if it is accomplishing something, when in reality, it is just doing more harm.

What is the alternative to paper towels? The answer is air dryers, which have been proven to be the worst way to dry your hands. We wash our hands to make them clean, and air dryers reverse that effect by increasing the amount of bacteria on our hands. This is why some experts argue that hospitals should not use hand dryers for the sake of cleanliness, so why should a university be any different?

You may say, “Fine, but it’s not possible to recycle them, so they are filling up landfills.” To that I say, “Just compost them!”

That’s right, many types of paper towels that we use can be composted. However, they must be clean, which they probably will be since you are mostly using them to dry your hands.

Putting aside the objective reasons why paper towel-drying is superior, the bottom line is, most people prefer to use paper towels over hand dryers. A Mayo Clinic study shows that 62 per cent of people would choose paper towels as their preferred method of drying their hands. This can be due to many reasons, including hygiene and hand irritation. They are, in my experience, slow, loud, and oftentimes, too hot.

Another often overlooked fact is that some hand dryers can reach noise levels of up to 90 decibels, which is as loud as a truck at a close distance. Who would willingly want to suffer through that?

Additionally, frequent exposure to hand dryers can irritate the skin. This effect can be especially bad for people like me, whose skin becomes easily irritated during the winter. I believe there is no reason we should be subjected to the use of hand dryers when paper towels, as an accessible alternative, exist.

Finally, I think that we should keep paper towels as they are versatile. Lots of people use them for more than just drying their hands. They can be used for opening doors and laid on toilet seats for cleanliness. These usages can increase our overall sense of hygiene and make bathrooms more inclusive for different hygiene standards.

In conclusion, I think that the idea of removing paper towels is a hasty one that hasn’t been thought through completely. There are many other ways we can improve our environmental footprint around the university, without causing our bathroom experience to be unhygienic and non-inclusive.

Moeez Nasir is a second-year student at Trinity College, studying health and disease.

Why ChatGPT shouldn’t be your therapist

Human connection is being devalued and it needs to stop

Zainab Haider Varsity Contributor

As generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT become inextricably woven into the fabric of modern life, we seem to be outsourcing not just tasks, but human connection itself. We are trading connections for convenience, and many of us don’t even realize it.

About six months ago, I was speaking to a friend about how he was coping with a messy breakup, only to be met with an unsettling response: “I already spoke about it with the robot.” Slightly worried yet curious, I followed up with, “Well, what did it say?”

He explained that he had uploaded a file with all the texts between himself and his ex-girlfriend, alongside the context of the breakup, and asked ChatGPT, “What do you think?” The chatbot assured him that he was right; she had taken advantage of him, and even went as far as calling her a narcissist.

His genuine trust in ChatGPT’s response got me thinking: am I the only one horrified that such a deeply human experience between partners and friends has been outsourced to an AI algorithm? It seems like the sensationalist news articles missed a point; AI isn’t just coming for your jobs, it’s coming for your relationships, too.

The loss of human connection

One of the most striking examples of this intrusion is in the realm of mental health, an area deeply rooted in empathy and human connection. A 2024 YouGov survey revealed that 55 per cent of Americans aged 18–29 feel more comfortable sharing their mental health concerns with AI than a human therapist. This astonishingly high percentage begs the question: can you really replicate therapy with a chatbot?

At its core, therapy involves an inherently human connection. It’s not just about talking to another person; it’s about feeling truly heard. The job of a therapist extends far beyond the conversational aspect. A therapist provides a safe space, helps untangle emotional struggles, and offers guidance

rooted in years of training and professional experience. These are all elements that AI does not and cannot possess.

AI bias

ChatGPT was never designed to be your therapist; it was built as an assistant that wants to please its user. We can see this through the machines’ sycophantic alignment and predictive alignment bias — where an AI model generates responses that align with what it predicts the user wants to hear, rather than offering purely objective or contrarian insights. This bias was certainly at play when my friend framed his breakup in a way that made him seem blameless while his ex was solely in the wrong. ChatGPT responded accordingly. When I later asked him for an update, he told me that ChatGPT had advised him to block his ex. And he listened.

Showing up for each other

This wasn’t an isolated case. Another friend confided in me that she turned to ChatGPT to process a fight with a parent. What struck me wasn’t just the choice itself, but what it replaced. We used to talk about things like that.

I’m not claiming to be a therapist — I’m a 21-year-old political science student — but being there for the people I care about has always brought me a deep sense of purpose and connection. There’s a quiet kind of fulfillment in knowing that your presence, your listening, and your care actually helped someone feel a little less alone. Hearing that a chatbot had filled that confidant role that used to be designated for me stung, not out of jealousy, but because it reflected a wider shift — one where we turn to machines not just for answers, but for comfort. In doing so, we risk losing something irreplaceable in our relationships: the human act of showing up for each other.

I can understand why people turn to AI for comfort; it’s instantaneous, free, and always available. In an increasingly fast-paced society, we only have so much time and, factually, cannot always be there for our friends as immediately as we’d like to be.

AI can also offer more than just convenience; it provides an accessible alternative for those who might not have other options, like therapy or support from loved ones. Also, being what some have described as the sum total of human knowledge and expression does give it a few extra points.

But I am terrified that humanity, fundamental to relationships, is being outsourced to AI.

If seeking ChatGPT’s advice in place of real human interactions becomes the norm, we risk losing something essential to the development of our emotional intelligence. Research has already shown that increased reliance on digital communication can hinder the development of social skills, such as empathy and conflict resolution.

Part of maturing is learning to navigate relationships — the heartbreaks, the frustrations, and the difficult conversations. These experiences strengthen our friendship bonds, build trust, and teach us how to support one another through both good and bad times.

That bond cannot be replicated by a chatbot.

A chatbot can simulate empathy, but it can’t actually care. It won’t hold your hand through grief. It won’t call you out when you’re wrong. It won’t remind you — through words, touch, or even silence — that you’re not alone.

If you only confide in AI, your relationships with real people will inevitably suffer and be stunted. Emotional maturity is not built in isolation.

Technology should enhance our connections, not replace them. The ability to seek comfort, to be there for each other, and to learn from shared experiences is what makes us human. And that is something no chatbot — no matter how advanced — can ever replace.

Zainab Haider is a fourth-year student studying public policy and political science with an interest in AI ethics and discourse.

How scary videos start scarier conversations

Analyzing debate cultures in lecture halls and on screens

I sat boredly in my American history tutorial on the cloudy afternoon of September 10, trying to think of something smart to contribute to the class discussion. Suddenly, someone raised their hand and said, “I have some news. Charlie Kirk was just shot.”

On September 12, US federal and Utah law enforcement arrested a suspect, Tyler Robinson, in connection with the fatal shooting of Kirk at Utah Valley University. News articles, broadcast

have since turned all their attention to the political and social implications of Kirk’s death. In response to the video of Kirk’s shooting being circulated so widely, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said, “Social media is a cancer on our society right now.”

Cox’s statement reflects a widespread sentiment about debate culture — that social media has negatively and destructively influenced how we exercise free speech, especially surrounding political topics.

Social media is now a major source of how we receive our news, and has made the circulation

Kirk was notorious for videos where he debated college and university students. A college student in one of these debates asked Kirk, “Do you feel proud of yourself for debating college kids who are unprepared to speak in front of an audience?” This quote also highlights that much of his audience, as well as the individuals he chooses to debate, are younger and less experienced with debating than him.

In an interview with The Varsity, second-year international relations student Oscar Kraemer said, “There will be 14-year-old boys watching [Kirk’s appearances on] Jubilee’s videos, and they don’t know any better. They are very susceptible to all forms of [political] content [on social media].”

This is illustrative of the ease with which political ideas disseminate to youth via social media. In Kirk’s case, this is harmful, as much of his political rhetoric is discriminatory to marginalized groups. Kirk’s debate tactics of rapid-fire questioning and speaking over his opponents consequently incentivize his audience to repeat his rhetoric.

Gamal Mansour, a PhD student in political science, comparative politics, and international relations, similarly expressed how “in an unregulated mess such as social media right now, it is a free-forall.” He explained that more than anyone, users of social media control its content because there is no [mediator]. “We’re stuck with a space where it’s all about angry responses.”

As Geoff Dancy, Associate Professor of political science at UTM, said in an interview with The Varsity, “Nobody wants to read a moderate tweet. They want to read a crazy tweet.”

It is our responsibility to recognize the implications of social media as a means

As Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan said: “The medium is the message.” McLuhan reminds us that all technology is simply an extension of ourselves, and that constant innovation results in personal and social implications inseparable

“Nobody wants to read a moderate tweet. They want to read a crazy tweet.”

A 2023 Statistics Canada report revealed that nearly half the Canadians surveyed received their news from social media accounts unaffiliated with news, government, or science organizations. Social media is dominating as a platform where people consume ‘news’ content. So, how does it shape our current political debate climate? How do we shape political debate through social

When asked by his parents after being brought into custody why he allegedly killed Charlie Kirk, Robinson said, “The guy spreads too much hate.” Kirk’s shooting was widely condemned among US citizens, with many agreeing on social media that Kirk was guilty of spreading excessive hate. His digital footprint has made a significant contribution to social media debate culture, especially to debates about free speech, when it should be restricted, and how this contention is extremely

“In the national or the global marketplace of ideas, the things that we’re seeing are the things that are pushing boundaries in promoting radicalism. And it’s because those get more eyeballs and they’re more titillating than moderate ideas.” He added that there is often a difference between how people are in person, and “their online selves,” and that there is “possibly a relationship between being very online and being drawn to extreme ideas.”

If social media is pushing the most ‘clickworthy’ content, users in turn exploit those algorithms, using tools like hot-topic keywords, shock-factor visuals, and hashtags to procure views and engagement.

But when we keep manipulating this algorithmic form of social media, doesn’t this incite us to abuse our free speech by being deliberately controversial just for clicks and likes?

Free speech policies at U of T

Walking through the UTSG campus, light poles and postering structures are littered with posters inviting passersby to debate various topics. Along this stretch of St. George Street, there are sometimes tables set up where students are invited to speak on various social, political, or even religious topics. It’s not uncommon to find someone handing you a flyer about communism on your way to class.

The freedom to engage in debate and conversation with each other is protected by U of T’s Statement on Freedom of Speech.

Part of the Statement reads: “All members of the University must have as a prerequisite freedom of speech and expression which means the right to examine, question, investigate, speculate, and comment on any issue without reference to prescribed doctrine, as well as the right to criticize the University and society at large. The purpose of the University also depends upon an environment of tolerance and mutual respect.”

While U of T appears to encourage a free speech culture on the tenets of tolerance, respect, and anti-discrimination, some students feel that in the classroom, their free speech is limited.

A May 2025 report by Randy Boyagoda, Provostial Advisor on Civil Discourse at U of T, found that students feared facing consequences for expressing their opinions in assignments or lecture halls, such as getting ‘cancelled,’ or receiving a bad grade from a professor who simply disagrees with them.

“Respondents reported that atmospheres where viewpoints were seen as highly polarized often served to shut down discussion. It was observed that in such environments, emotions are often heightened, leading to conflict, upset, and personal attacks.”

First-year cinema studies student Andrew Carragher attested to this, explaining that he feels ideas are often politicized in the classroom. He gives the example of how, in his English class, discussions of Critical Race Theory have elicited the question of “Whether or not we should give Indigenous people their land back.”

He argues that questions like these should be posited in neutral rather than opinionated ways. Otherwise, students lack “the freedom to make their own opinions and formulate their own ideas.” Carragher adds that “we should give people a platform to have their opinions, but we should also have the ability to fact-check their opinions.”

This Civil Discourse report seems to expose an incongruency between U of T’s formal statement on free speech, and students’ experiences expressing their views on campus. Social media’s exacerbation of things like political polarization and sensationalism has trickled down into classrooms, making students afraid to exercise the tenets of free speech that U of T promises them.

Mansour touched on free speech restriction, and explained that we “are policing freedom of speech on the other side [of the political spectrum] because it happens to disagree with our content because we think it’s dangerous.” He elaborated that as debate culture expands on social media, “the instantaneousness of our actions right now is killing the deliberative process, the deliberation, the time…We’re talking over one another’s heads. We’re no longer talking to each other.”

In July 2024, U of T was granted an injunction to shut down a pro-Palestine encampment in King College Circle. “U of T's response to the protest, the encampments, and support of the Palestinian cause was very repressive,” felt Bello, “to the point where now there are very limited forms of action that students are allowed to take on campus… In that case, [free speech on campus] is being threatened.”

In October 2024, following the encampment, U of T updated its Policies on Protests with statements like “Constructing tents, encampments, fences, barriers, or other structures is not permitted,” and “U of T allows peaceful protest that does not interrupt University activities – including classes, meetings, or other University business.”

Yet many sources agree that disruption of the everyday is inherent to the very practice of protest, which seeks to interrupt people’s sense of normalcy to draw attention to a specific issue. U of T’s statement on free speech claims to entitle students to “the right to criticize the University and society at large,” but do its Policies on Protests truly align with this right?

Maintaining a healthy environment for debate and conversation on campus is especially important in today’s age, where social media is a prominent mechanism for political activities like organizing protests, spreading social movements, and even influencing our political ideologies. But misinformation and hate are easier than ever to disseminate, thanks to our frequent use of screens to engage in debates.

I agree with Mansour’s argument that we have come to forget the fundamental element of listening to each other’s sides in contemporary political debates — evidently facilitated by the algorithmic, fast-paced, and strategic use of social media.

“I miss the time when we used to have to think and pause before we took an action.”

Student stories

The social media sensationalization of Kirk’s death has evidently elicited questions about free speech on campus at U of T. Students that I interviewed discussed many perspectives on how they feel about expressing their views on campus, with attention to the role of social media in the conversation.

First-year humanities student Rennick Kosekela referenced a recent event at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) in our interview.

At TMU, a pro-Palestine demonstrator was shoved to the ground by a campus security guard. In a video posted on social media, the protester is heard allegedly saying, “Get off me. You’re hurting me. I can’t breathe.” The widespread circulation of this video is attributable to social media, and the video has elicited responses from students a few blocks west, at U of T.

Kosekela expressed how, in comparison to TMU, he feels that U of T’s “environment… is pretty open to say what you want without judgment,” and that he has “had no issue with the way professors are handling… harsh topics.”

Olivia Bello — second-year political science and peace, conflict, and justice student — disagrees.

“When it comes to academic discussions [at U of T],” Bello said, “I think there is more to be done in terms of amplifying perspectives which may not have received as much attention as they should have in the past.”

“Within the classroom setting, there seems to be a tendency to avoid normativity when it comes to certain topics… For example, taking a neutral stance when it comes to the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

I believe that they can and should be addressed by meaningful conversations where we aim not to argue or retort, but to hear and understand.

What should we do? What can we do?

Mansour believes that social media is not the cause of people forgetting to listen to and deliberate with other people when engaging in political debates. “Social media is a reflection and an amplification of that forgetfulness,” he said. Social media is merely an extension of ourselves.

We shouldn’t be complicit in becoming susceptible to hateful and discriminatory rhetoric, amplified by social media algorithms. Instead, we can become a generation of people who are adept at recognizing and dismantling misinformation.

As members of one of the highest-ranking universities in the world, we are surrounded by tens of thousands of peers with different experiences and perspectives from our own. We know the importance of acknowledging and understanding different opinions, arguments, and ideas without jumping into states of hate or anger. We need to practise recognizing the way people use and manipulate social media algorithms to boost hate speech, and criticizing institutions like U of T, when we find that policies for free speech are inadequate and even harmful.

Only then will we be able to have productive conversations and debates when we disagree on issues, so that no one is left feeling ignored, unimportant, or further harmed by conversations.

Arts & Culture

October 21, 2025

thevarsity.ca/category/arts-culture arts@thevarsity.ca

SpringAwakening: A moving and technically impressive spectacle

Engineering Drama Society puts on Spring Awakening at Hart House

The Engineering Drama Society’s production of Spring Awakening — a rock musical adapted from the 1891 German play of the same name — ran at Hart House Theatre from September 25–27, and blossomed into a moving and technically impressive spectacle.

Spring Awakening follows a small group of teenagers in nineteenth-century Germany as they learn to navigate emerging sexuality and relationships with each other alongside strained relationships with the adults around them.

The main drama follows Melchior Gabor (Nicolas Cikoja), a gifted and rebellious schoolboy, and his two most important relationships: one with Wendla Bergmann (Isobel Arseneau), a fellow student with whom he has sex, and one with his best friend, Moritz Stiefel (Joshua Chung), who is deeply troubled by his poor grades, home life, and newfound nervous obsession with sex.

The production’s closing night got off to a rough start. Arseneau portrayed Wendla’s isolation from her mother (Mila Damjanovic) well, but it also felt like the two actors weren’t really perceiving each other on stage, making for poor chemistry.

Similar problems plagued the next couple of scenes, and the first few musical numbers failed to enchant. As the production progressed to more serious scenes, however, these issues resolved themselves.

Chung’s performance was particularly delightful. From the first moment he was on stage, Chung’s body language perfectly portrayed Moritz’s nervous and at times pathetic demeanour, with his knees perpetually locked together and his

head pulled slightly into his chest. Chung shone with joy in the few scenes where Moritz has hope for the future, only adding to the impact of the eventual tragedy that befalls him.

Cikoja’s acting provided the perfect contrast to Moritz, standing tall and proud onstage.

Cikoja clearly portrayed Melchior’s brash yet intelligent qualities, effectively managing to feel like the most adult out of the cast of schoolchildren, while still woefully unaware of his shortcomings.

The group of schoolgirls Wendla consorts with performed beautifully both together and apart. Gaby Bondoc’s Martha Bessell was particularly captivating during her performance of “The Dark I Know Well.” Bianca Hopkins’

U of T’s most unbelievable

performance of Ilse Neumann was likewise a high point of the play, especially during “Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind” and its accompanying scene.

As one might expect from the Engineering Drama Society, the technical elements of Spring Awakening were extremely impressive.

The set consisted of a realistic threedimensional tree canopy over the front of the stage, created from insulation foam sheets that were cut into three-dimensional shapes by a computer numerical control machine then attached together by hand.

On stage, two large, movable wooden platforms — assembled months in advance of opening night to allow ample time for practice

cheating cases

Academic misconduct cases are the best readings this school has to offer

Maeve Ellis

Varsity Contributor

Forget Nobel prize-winning research and the discovery of insulin — U of T’s greatest gift to the world is its archive of cheating cases.

The most egregious charges of academic misconduct work their way through a bureaucratic pipeline to a final hearing. Case summaries are published online, and reading them is the most entertaining way to procrastinate.

With some sourcing help from r/UofT, here are my favourites, all of which ended in the tribunal recommending expulsion:

Case 1615: Elbowing the invigilator

An invigilator for a second-year math course spotted “something shiny” under a student’s seat: a cell phone. The invigilator reached out to grab the phone, and the student ran out of the exam room while they were both holding the phone, causing the invigilator to be pulled along. In the hallway, the student elbowed him in the chest and bolted.

The student said in an interview with a campus police officer that he brought a phone into the exam and was “too scared” when the invigilator saw it and ran out of the classroom in a panic. 45 minutes later in the interview, the student admitted he wasn’t the one who took the exam and hit the invigilator — it was someone he hired through TikTok to impersonate him to get a better mark.

The student also tried cheating a year earlier in a different exam by receiving photos of answers to exam questions through WeChat.

Case 567: Cheating down the drain

An actuarial science cheating teaching assistant (TA) charged three students $1,500 each for the answers to two tests.

The first time, the TA escorted each student to the washroom, where he had them memorize

the answers to multiple-choice questions. For the second test, he told them the answers directly in the exam room as he was the only invigilator in the room for most of the exam’s duration.

He ultimately garnered the professor’s suspicion when he asked for the answers to the final exam three separate times for no apparent reason.

The TA tried to throw the students under the bus by coaching them to say they just cheated amongst themselves. He later lied that the students approached him with the idea of cheating, as opposed to his bringing it up first.

The TA returned home, where he said his friends advised him to come clean. He came back to Toronto with the intention of fessing up, but found the students beat him to it.

Case 617: The least weird Craigslist ad

Craigslist is great for used bikes and relatively cheap rentals, but one calculus student found another good use for it, posting:

Looking for a asian (Chinese, Korean) guy who graduated from or currently attending to U of T who is good at math.

3 midterms + 1 final

I will pay you $1000 + bonus

Caontact me at 647-300-8478

(text preferred)

The university was suspicious of the post. Faculty members identified the student through his phone number and called him into a meeting.

There, the student said he was merely trying to hire a private tutor and wrote the ad to find someone who was affordable and could communicate well.

The staff believed him and encouraged him to use the department’s tutoring resources and “to be more careful in the future about how he phrased things.”

“The meeting ended on good terms, and the Departmental representatives believed the matter was concluded,” wrote the tribunal.

— added verticality to the set. That effect, alongside the lighting, was especially effective during the musical numbers to isolate backup singers from the main parts.

The backdrop consisted of a weathered fauxbrick wall that was hand-cut and then shredded to ensure the light fell on it correctly. It was lit from behind, with lit windows in front hanging from the ceiling. This abundance of lights was used to its full effect by the lighting crew.

In an interview with The Varsity, Lincoln MacDonald — producer, sound director, and set designer — and Victoria Zhou — codirector alongside Vedant Gupta — stressed the importance of strong lighting to create a distinction between the modern “song world” inhabited during the musical numbers, and the nineteenth-century setting of the rest of the production.

A spectacular array of multi-coloured lights for each of the musical numbers created this distinct visual effect beautifully, contrasting with the plain lighting of the more realistic scenes. Likewise, the on-stage musical accompaniment was well-coordinated, mixing the electric guitar riffs with classical instruments, maintaining a modern feel without contrasting too strongly with the proper historical context.

Despite its initial hiccups, Spring Awakening was worth seeing, featuring strong actors, stirring music, and impressive technical elements.

On October 11, the Engineering Drama Society announced that their next musical production will be Mean Girls, running March 5–7 at Hart House Theatre, a development that readers invested in campus arts should be glad to hear.

The next day, a professor who had been in the prior day’s meeting was monitoring a test the student was supposed to take. However, the professor couldn’t spot the student in the room, as he ultimately hired someone to take the test for him. The professor reported the cheating.

Case 663: Periodic cheating

Throughout a semester of teaching a large first-year chemistry course, a professor noticed a student wearing a niqab only during the mid-term and the final. These were also the only two evaluations in which that student did unusually well.

During a test, the student’s score was 24 per cent. During the mid-term and final, the student wearing a niqab scored 87.5 per cent and 93 per cent, respectively.

Later, the student showed up to a meeting with the professor without a niqab, which made the professor suspicious that the student did not take the evaluations herself.

A forensic document examiner later found that the person who wrote the first evaluation was “without reservation” different from whoever wrote the midterm and the exam. Whoever signed

the final exam also “attempt[ed] to simulate the signature” that was on the first test.

Case 410: The boyfriend who cheated… and cheated

Your university boyfriend might have sucked. But at least he didn’t entrap you into a years-long micro-cult dedicated to doing all of his coursework. In this “stranger than fiction” case, an undergraduate manipulated two students into doing 21 assignments for him across nine courses. The students became his girlfriends, and the time frame of the relationships overlapped. Their work included attending lectures on his behalf, doing projects with no input from him, and preparing a presentation for him.

One of the girlfriends told the tribunal that after earning 60 per cent on an essay, he told her that she “had not done very well.” He also had each girlfriend help with different parts of a book report.

The tribunal wrote “the Student had an uncanny ability to exert influence over these ‘friends’ and that he used this influence to have a free ride in these courses at their expense.”

It’s less work to just read the slides.

Burak

BUTCH/FEMME plays Theatre Passe Muraille

Student-written play explores queer identity in the ’50s

Being an artful soul at the University of Toronto can be frustrating sometimes. Especially in the humanities, having to approach art and culture as an academic can be alienating or even discouraging for students who are more creatively inclined. One will study masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, the statue of David, or the movie 8½ for class, wondering: ‘When and how am I ever going to make it?’

Every now and then, it is encouraging to hear news of fellow students having success in creative areas.

When I met with Emily Paterson — a fourthyear student in English and Drama — at University College’s Café Reznikoff, she had just completed a successful, weeklong run of her play BUTCH/ FEMME at downtown’s famous Theatre Passe Muraille. But Paterson originally conceived the play on U of T grounds.

In an interview with The Varsity, Paterson spoke on the process of building the play from scratch. “I started [writing] it in my second year playwriting class, and I kept writing it over the summer,” she said. “It was just an eight-page scene for that class, and then I submitted it to the Hart House Drama Festival, which happens every year.”

BUTCH/FEMME caught the attention of festivalgoers — and one person in particular. This year, when BUTCH/FEMME competed, Hart House Drama Festival was being adjudicated by Marjorie Chan, the artistic director of the Toronto theatre company, Theatre Passe Muraille.

Chan awarded BUTCH/FEMME the President’s Award for Best Production, and gave Paterson valuable feedback about the play. To Paterson’s surprise, when she asked Chan where she could

take the show next, Chan offered that she bring it to Theatre Passe Muraille.

Paterson recalls that the process of moving the play into a bigger and more recognizable venue was “a real learning experience.”

“We were in this campus environment, which was deeply DIY. We had one show, we had six weeks to do it. Now, we had months to put it together and actually had money this time. We had proper resources. We had professionals in the industry to give us mentorship.”

BUTCH/FEMME opens in a 1950s-esque room, where a woman named Jenny (Annabelle Gillis) hears a knock on the door. Clad in contemporary leather clothes and marked with a scar on her eyebrow, Jenny’s ex-lover Alice (Tessa Kramer) mysteriously reappears in her life.

My hour of rest and reading

I attended Trinity Reads and you should too

Ahmed Hawamdeh Opinion Editor

Rushing from class on an abnormally hot September afternoon, I began to regret the wool sweater I’d so confidently worn at 8:00 am when I left the house. Sweat trickling down my forehead, September 22 was anything but the perfect fall day I had imagined it would be.

But as I opened the doors of the Trinity College Chapel, relief rushed through my body. And no, this is not a story of divine salvation, but one about reading. More specifically, Trinity College’s new literary program, “Trinity Reads.”

Trinity Reads, modelled after the CBC’s Canada Reads competition — an annual literary competition of Canadian books — provides students, staff, and community members with an opportunity to read outside the classroom and to attend literary events.

As I entered the chapel, I was greeted by the sound of calming lo-fi music, a free book, and a cool environment to sit and read; a much-appreciated break from the sweltering September heat. As readers had the option to engage in book swaps, literary discussions, or to simply sit with their book and read, Trinity Reads provided me a space to step away from my hectic day, even if it was just for an hour.

As I sat down in the pew, I began reading the book I had just received, Dispersals by Jessica J. Lee.

This year, the all-Canadian lineup was chosen for its emphasis on the environment and for its ability to push readers to “reimagine our relationship with the land.” Additionally, the theme was chosen to commemorate the upcoming establishment of the Lawson Centre for Sustainability at Trinity College, which will work to address and find solutions to the climate crisis.

Dispersals is a collection of personal essays that eloquently weaves together stories of

migration, botany, and the environment, to tell a story that reaffirms our interconnectedness with each other and our surroundings.

I probably would never have picked up this book if it were not for Trinity Reads, because frankly, botany was never a subject I have been drawn to. But there is more to Dispersals than the petals on the cover, as Lee is unafraid to go beyond the surface and uncover dirty, messy, complex, and beautiful roots.

Beyond the stellar line-up of books ––which included a personal favourite, Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, an apocalyptic novel set in a northern Anishinaabe community that intertwines stories of settlercolonialism, community, and apocalypse ––at Trinity Reads, I was reminded of my love for reading outside of academic papers and required class texts.

I left the chapel to resume what often feels like an overwhelming life, feeling a weird sense of solace. For an hour, I was finally able to unplug from the world, forget about my essay due next week, the 100 pages of class readings I had to complete, and my upcoming midterm. I delved into a novel that rerooted myself in the land and my surrounding environment.

U of T Professor Leanne Toshiko Simpson, one of Trinity Reads’ organizers, said in an email to The Varsity, “Students are under so much pressure to achieve, and there was something really special about all of us being in a community space just reading and connecting and stepping away from our phones.”

Yes, the chapel is beautiful, the free cookies, delicious, and the books, spectacular. But the primary reason I’ll be returning to Trinity Reads is for its ability to put the toxic hustle culture of U of T on pause. In a world that seems to continuously disconnect us from each other, ourselves, and the land, Trinity Reads offers a space to step away from stress and reconnect with intention.

The story plays out as a 75-minute conversation between the two characters on questions of forgiveness and acceptance.

“I never wanted more, I wanted out!” proclaims Alice, reflecting on the mistreatment she faced as a queer person in her conservative hometown.

The period piece setting serves as a solid ground to explore issues of gender and identity within Paterson’s framework. “I’m very interested in the way the past speaks with the present, and the ways the present reflects the past,” Paterson said.

“There’s a bad habit for a lot of people to approach history as something that has happened, and not something that is happening anymore. Particularly with issues of queerness, a lot of people are of the belief that because queerness is generally more well accepted now, it’s not an issue anymore.”

There is a timelessness to the play as Paterson intended the dialogue to draw a parallel between the issues and struggles queer communities faced back then with the present.

Meanwhile, Alice’s return home suggests that she didn’t exactly find the acceptance she sought in the big city either. The play deals with the need for safe spaces for queer women, and sometimes the lack thereof. “So much of homophobia is specifically directed towards lesbians –– its roots are found in misogyny,” Paterson elaborated. “The issues they talk about of needing a space, that is as much a women’s issue as it is a queer issue.”

As reported by the director, the actors follow their instincts about the blocking onstage. Both Kramer and Gillis are remarkable at getting the emotions of their characters across, through the physicality of their movements in correspondence to the twists in the story. But the feelings are also conveyed through the subtle tweaks in the lighting, and touches of diegetic ’50s radio music, and the contemporary acoustic guitar music that communicates that symbolism of how the past speaks to the present.

When BUTCH/FEMME played the show that got them their spot at the Passe Muraille, it was not a finished play. “A festival… is meant to be for works-in-progress, which I think a lot of people forget about… The reason I think BUTCH/ FEMME did so well is because it was a more stripped-back performance. It allowed itself to be grounded in this real world, in this relationship, these two characters, and really focused on this dialogue that they’re having.”

Besides being a multi-layered, accomplished, and urgent work, BUTCH/FEMME can also be a source of inspiration to other students who want to have their art exhibited to larger audiences.

October 21, 2025

thevarsity.ca/category/science science@thevarsity.ca

Peripheral immune system takes center stage

On the 2025 Nobel prize for physiology and medicine

Christina Lam Varsity Contributor

The average person’s understanding of their immune system often ends at knowing the body’s ability to fight infections such as the common cold. The other side of the same coin –– promoting infection tolerance of one’s own cells –– tends to be neglected.

This is no longer the case as the 2025 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell from the United States, as well as Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan, “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

Regulatory T cells: our immune system’s built-in brakes

When our immune system detects invaders, it deploys responders, called ‘T cells,’ that attack these pathogens for removal. Unfortunately, this can result in collateral damage to our own

cells. To alleviate this, our bodies rely on a separate population called regulatory T cells, called Tregs. True to their name, these Tregs regulate the responder T cells to minimize offtarget injuries. In other words, they serve as brakes for our immune response.

Thanks to this specialized cell group, our bodies can mount efficient attacks against foreign pathogens without incurring excessive damage to our own bodies.

Like most major scientific discoveries, the road to these regulatory cells was paved by multiple pairs of hands over several years.

1995: Sakaguchi going against the current In 1995, Dr. Sakaguchi, who was working at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) in Japan, reported his findings on a suppressive group of immune cells. He found

that by injecting these cells into mice with autoimmune diseases, he was able to alleviate their symptoms. Autoimmune diseases occur when one’s immune cells see one’s own body as foreign and attack it, which can cause eczema, digestive issues, and diabetes.

His paper challenged the scientific consensus at the time, which rejected the existence of said suppressive cells. In fact, these cells were very much a taboo subject.

“For decades, the prevailing dogma in the immunology community was that suppressor T cells do not exist, and scientists working on this subject were frequently shunned or sidelined,” said Dr. Stephen Juvet in an email to The Varsity . Dr. Juvet is a physician-scientist at U of T, whose research focuses on tolerance in transplantation.

This was because scientists did not have a reliable marker — like a gene or protein — they could investigate to even identify the cells, let alone study them. Furthermore, although Sakaguchi’s report solved the marker problem, it was still difficult to convince the scientific community since he had yet to show that the same cell type existed in humans with similar biological functions.

2001: Brunkow and Ramsdell bringing the missing pieces

All of that changed in 2001 when Brunkow and Ramsdell came along with their work from Celltech in Washington. The two investigated the genetic defect in a strain of lab mice called ‘scurfy,’ which exhibits widespread symptoms of autoimmunity.

Together, they isolated the responsible gene and called it Foxp3. Most importantly, they discovered that humans with the same mutation suffer a rare condition called immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked syndrome, or IPEX.

Individuals with IPEX have a profoundly dysregulated immune system and are plagued with several inflammatory diseases, such as eczema, diabetes, and bowel diseases.

2003: Sakaguchi completes the puzzle Everything came full circle when Dr. Sakaguchi

connected the puzzles two years later. In another seminal publication, he and his team demonstrated that the same Foxp3 gene was responsible for the development and function of the suppressive cell group that they previously reported on.

Finally, the once-controversial suppressor cells were very much no longer so.

The work from Sakaguchi, Brunkow, and Ramsdell has provided convincing evidence for the existence and importance of regulatory cells with far-reaching implications. It highlights that a healthy immune system requires a balance of cells that both attack foreign bodies and suppressors that prevent that attack from turning inward.

The finding that keeps on giving

Over the last three decades, scientists have leveraged this fact to innovate treatments for a multitude of immunological conditions.

For example, there are several ongoing clinical trials looking at infusing regulatory cells into patients with autoimmune conditions to dampen their excessive immune response. The same strategy is also being employed for those who have undergone transplantation. It’s used to induce lasting tolerance to their new organs, since rejection is still a major issue in the field.

One of the fields that has benefited greatly from the work of Brunkow, Ramsdell, and Sakaguchi is treatment for cancer patients. Once it was observed that tumour cells can hijack regulatory cells to suppress one’s own immune defence, researchers started to investigate ways to block these biological brakes.

This led to the discovery of Treg inhibitors that significantly prolong survival in cancer patients. In fact, this work also received its own Nobel Prize in 2018, further illustrating the impact of regulatory cells on the public.

This is still only the beginning. There is still a lot that is yet to be discovered about Tregs, such as how they develop and the various strategies they use to negatively regulate the immune response –– all of which are potential leads for novel treatments.

The new laws of physics win big Physics Nobel 2025 goes to quantum computing pioneers

The science

Serena Suleman Varsity Contributor

It is once again Nobel Prize season, and this year’s top prize in physics honours three quantum physicists for their discovery of “macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit.”

The winners

The prize was awarded jointly to a team of three researchers for work they conducted in the mid-1980s.

John Clarke of the University of California, Berkeley, Michel H. Devoret of Yale University, and John M. Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara will take home this year’s Nobel at the prize ceremony on December 10, 2025, in Stockholm, Sweden. It’s not unusual for the Nobel Committee to wait 40 years after the research was initially published to award the team. Last year, the committee awarded John J. Hopfield and U of T’s own Geoffrey Hinton for foundational discoveries that enabled the current rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence — work that was done by him in the mid to late ’80s.

In this case, the committee is now recognizing the researchers for their pioneering work in quantum computing. The work is reflected in current quantum computing advancements, including those by Google, Microsoft, and IBM.

Quantum mechanics is generally concerned with unconventional behaviours on a tiny scale — that of a single particle in a subatomic world.

Imagine throwing a tennis ball at a wall. You could assume pretty confidently that it would bounce back. But a single particle might pass through an equivalent barrier in the quantum world and appear on the other side through a

phenomenon called quantum tunnelling. These effects seem to disappear when looking at large-scale systems in the real world.

In a series of experiments performed from 1984–1985, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis demonstrated quantum behaviours at a macroscopic level — that trillions of particles bonded together could exhibit quantum tunnelling in unison.

To do this, they built an electrical circuit consisting of two superconducting wires — meaning that they are able to conduct electricity without any resistance or loss of energy through heat. The wires were separated by a thin layer of insulating material, which doesn’t conduct current.

Because there’s no current in the insulating layer, charge is trapped inside that layer, and

the classical laws of physics say that voltage should also measure zero. Just as a tennis ball thrown at a wall doesn’t have enough energy to break through it, the charge doesn’t have enough energy to leave the insulating layer.

However, the researchers observed the system holding a nonzero voltage, which would only be possible if charge is able to leave the insulating layer through quantum tunnelling. The experiment essentially demonstrated the ability of billions of particles to exhibit quantum tunnelling on a scale previously unseen.

In quantum mechanics, subatomic particles gain or lose energy in discrete or distinct whole amounts instead of continuously.

For instance, an electron is a negatively charged subatomic particle that is found in layers, called orbitals, around the nucleus, or core, of an atom. It remains in a certain orbital unless it gets a specific quantity — a quantum — of energy. The electron cannot leave its specific orbital unless it gains or loses that specific quantum of energy.

In the laureates’ experiments, they observed that the system only absorbed light at certain frequencies, which corresponded to particular quanta of energy. Since the system only responded to these specific quanta, the experiment demonstrated that the macroscopic scale also utilizes discrete quantities of energy, consistent with behaviours on the subatomic scale.

So what?

During the announcement of the award, the Nobel Committee highlighted the role of quantum mechanics in the continued development of advanced technology, including cellphones, cameras, and fibre optic cables — used to transmit signals quickly.

The trio’s discoveries helped lay the groundwork for the quantum bit, also called the qubit, a fundamental part of the quantum computer. Where classical computers store information in bits, single-digit ones or zeroes,

a qubit’s quantum properties allow the bit to be both one and zero at once, or to entangle or link with other qubits, opening up a new world of possibilities for processing speeds and applications.

Quantum computing, which could process information at speeds much faster than existing classical computers, represents one of the current races in technological advancement. Although quantum computing remains largely impractical because of its high error rates and infrastructure costs, true quantum computers have the power to accelerate research in artificial intelligence, drug discovery, and countless other applications.

Martinis and Devoret have both worked for Google Quantum AI, which, in 2019, under Martinis, announced that they had created the first quantum computer able to perform a calculation that would be impossible for a classical computer to achieve. Devoret currently serves as Chief Scientist of Quantum Hardware at Google.

Building the future, atom by atom

Nobel Prize in Chemistry honours the architects

Siriah Subit

Varsity Contributor

Recently, the scientific world turned its gaze to Stockholm as Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025. Their pioneering research has identified a new kind of chemical structure — metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) — that could offer solutions to the world’s biggest environmental challenges.

Another way to put it: they’ve designed molecular structures that look and function like small, intricate cages capable of trapping gases, sifting out water contaminants, removing moisture from air, and more.

The architecture of MOFs MOFs are three-dimensional structures made of metal ions — positively charged atoms that act as strong connecting points, and organic linkers — carbon-based molecules that join these metal points together to form a network full of pores. These pores give MOFs a very large surface area, meaning they have plenty of space inside to hold other molecules.

By combining the rigid metal ions with soft organic linkers, MOFs span an area where

inorganic chemistry’s focus on metals and minerals intersects with organic chemistry, which deals with carbon-based molecules. As a result, MOFs are highly versatile and physically flexible.

Scientists can change the type of metal ion the MOFs are made of to adjust the size and properties of their pores. This tunability lets researchers choose which molecules the MOFs adsorb, store, or release — a characteristic that contributes to applications such as carbon dioxide capture, hydrogen and methane storage, drug delivery, and water purification. Notably, they have unparalleled potential in the storage of energy and removal of contaminants.

The scientists behind the breakthrough In the 1980s, at the University of Melbourne, Robson created the first MOFs by linking metal ions and organic molecules into extended, repeating frameworks. Inspired by the molecular crystal structure of diamonds, he aimed to create synthetic frameworks with cavities where gas molecules could be encapsulated.

Although these early chemical frameworks were not very stable, Robson’s work laid

Following the announcement, Clarke took the opportunity to criticize the Trump administration’s wide-ranging cuts to research funding in the United States. Speaking to Agence France-Presse (AFP) News, Clarke argued that reductions to research budgets and the dismissal of scientists from federal agencies “will cripple much of United States science research,” including fundamental research into quantum physics and computing. All three laureates currently live and work in the US, although Clarke is originally from England, and Devoret from France.

Ultimately, the Nobel committee’s decision to highlight the work of Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis is a reminder of the yet untapped potential of quantum computing and applications of quantum physics. It is also a testament to the value of fundamental research and the scientific community. Congratulations to the laureates!

of metal-organic frameworks

the foundation of MOF design, showing that geometric principles could be used to guide the creation of stable, functional materials. His paper outlined how to design MOFs with specific pore sizes and connectivity, enabling applications like selective gas adsorption.

Kitagawa’s work in the 1990s at Tokyo Metropolitan University demonstrated that MOFs’ structures — with their porous design — could actually be structurally stable by using a ‘tongue-and-groove’ molecular geometry.

Groups of protruding molecular edges, or tongues, fit into adjacent grooves similar to how we fit wood panels for flooring. Therefore, MOFs may be able to maintain their structural integrity, but also trap, or adsorb, gases into their pores and then release, or desorb, the gas. The structures remain intact as their flexibility allows them to relax and change shape to accommodate the size of guest molecules. This process is known as breathing behaviour.

Kitagawa’s research is foundational in the use of MOFs in gas separation and storage, particularly for environmentally significant gases like methane and carbon dioxide.

From the late ’90s to early 2000s, Yaghi researched how MOFs could selectively adsorb

poisonous gases, such as ammonia, sulphur dioxide, and carbon monoxide, which could clean up the environment. Yaghi and his lab later synthesized MOFs that can harvest water from extremely dry air by adsorbing water vapour at night and evaporating it in liquid form when the structure is lightly heated during the day. This innovation could potentially clean water in desert regions.

Kitagawa, Robson, and Yaghi’s advancements demonstrate the promise of MOFs in addressing global challenges of energy, environment, and sustainability.

Chemistry for a changing planet

The impact of MOFs reaches far beyond the lab bench, offering real-world solutions to some of the world’s most persistent challenges. From fighting climate change and pollution to improving sustainable access to clean water, these materials demonstrate that chemistry can change the world.

As Kitagawa, Robson, and Yaghi travel to Stockholm in December to collect their medals, their research stands as a testament to the subtle, yet profound, strength of chemistry — to create solutions at the molecular scale that address the world’s biggest climate challenges.

Sports

October 21, 2025

thevarsity.ca/section/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Season preview: Maple Leafs skate

toward success

New season, new roster; another shot at ending NHL’s longest championship dry spell

Ashley Thorpe Varsity Board Member

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2024–2025 season ended in the same way it has for the last 58 years: a sea of royal blue jerseys and disappointed faces flooding out of Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs had yet again blown Game 7 of the divisional series to the defending champion Florida Panthers.

Despite constant adversity and failure, the team and fans alike are hopeful that 2025–2026 could be the season the Leafs finally end the longest championship drought in NHL history.

Mitch Marner trade

The biggest story from this past NHL off-season is the Maple Leafs losing one of their most notable star players, right wing Mitch Marner.

Towards the end of his Leafs tenure, fans were split on whether or not they believed Marner was a valuable enough asset to the team to justify his high salary. The NHL has a tight salary cap, allowing teams to spend only $95 million per year, making Marner’s $10.9 million average annual value (AAV), combined with disappointing playoff performances, hard to justify.

As a result, when the Leafs executed a sign-and-trade deal sending Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights, many were happy to say goodbye to a previously beloved franchise player.

Opinions of Marner aside, the Leafs still needed to replace the 102 points he accumulated for the team last season. This cannot be done by just one player. The Maple Leafs need to pivot away from expecting the most from their top players and instead secure consistently good performances from many players across their roster.

The Leafs signed three new forwards to fill the Marner-shaped void. However, adding up the total points of these new Leafs — Dakota Joshua, Matias Maccelli and Nicolas Roy — still isn’t enough to make up for Marner’s production on the ice. If Maccelli, in particular, can return to his 2023 form and provide 57 points for the team, it will be easy to forget Marner and focus on the future of the team.

Other signings

Additionally, the Leafs have locked up fan favourite forward John Tavares for another four years. Tavares stepped down as captain and passed the title on to Auston Matthews last year, believing he was ready for the role. Between this respectable decision and his 497 career goals, he has proven himself as a reliable addition in the Maple Leaf clubhouse.

Joseph Woll, one-half of the Leafs’ goalie duo with Anthony Stolarz, departed from preseason training camp. He was placed on injured reserve while dealing with family matters. Woll’s absence will be felt as the brunt of goaltending responsibility is placed on Stolarz, who recently

signed a team-friendly extension at four years and $15 million. Stolarz plays elite defence in front of the net, boasting a .917 save percentage. Keeping Stolarz on such a low paycheque has allowed the Leafs to build a powerful team around their core without losing important defensive components.

Beginning of the new season

In their season opener, William Nylander scored a goal and had two assists, Morgan Rielly provided an assist, and Tavares and Steven Lorentz each had two assists for the Maple Leafs, while Stolarz made 29 saves. This allowed the team to secure a win over their primary rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, with a score of 5–2.

Craig Berube, the Leafs’ coach, believes there is a lot of good within the group, but there is still room for improvement. A few offensive mishaps, particularly a mishandled pass from Nylander to Matthews, need to be worked out before the team plays their next game.

However, this is not a challenging feat, and it is easy to have a positive outlook on the future of the Maple Leafs. The team is not necessarily a Stanley Cup favourite this year, losing out to flashy rosters such as those of the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers. Despite this, the Leafs are a scrappy team with a lot of heart and a hunger to win.

Maybe this is the year the Stanley Cup finally comes home to Toronto and Maple Leafs fans get the ending they’ve waited 58 years for.

Madeline Skeans: From the Rockies to the world stage

The fourth-year field hockey midfielder speaks about balance, leadership, and Team Canada

Madeline Skeans didn’t grow up with a stick in hand. She grew up in Calgary, surrounded by mountains, immersed in sports, and pulled in a dozen directions before field hockey even crossed her periphery.

Now four years into her Varsity Blues career, Skeans is a starting midfielder with international chops for Canada, a life sciences student balancing pharmacology with pre-med ambitions, and a quiet force of leadership both on and off the pitch.

Beginnings in field hockey

Skeans grew up a competitive swimmer and trained in cross-country, and track and field. She began playing field hockey in her last three years of high school, and had even planned to join U of T as a dual-sport athlete in field hockey and track and field.

It wasn’t until a stress fracture in grade 12 derailed her track plans that she turned her full focus to field hockey. That year, she made her international debut at the U18 Canada-America series.

“[That tour in Philly] is one of my biggest core memories… playing with girls from all over the country was so cool [...] seeing there was a competitive pathway forward, I was like, wow, I would like to be a

With her mother being a former Queen’s field hockey player and Calgary’s field hockey community being quite tight-

knit, Skeans found the guidance she needed. At Legacy Academy, a then-new program in Alberta, she trained under coach Nick Hignell, whom she credits for preparing her to play internationally and at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) level.

Connections between sports and academics

As a pharmacology and physiology major, Skeans has always seen school as her priority. Her longterm dream is to become a pediatrician, and her academic load would intimidate most. Still, she sees connections between both sides of her life, academics and sports. Studying sleep science and recovery has been especially helpful. “That’s such a gear shift to make… working harder doesn’t necessarily mean more hours. [It] probably means going to bed and setting yourself up for performance, both academically and athletically,” she said in an interview with The Varsity Skeans is also well-balanced outside of sports and academics. She is the co-president of U of T’s Marathon Club and works as a tutor in the StudentAthlete Support Program, mentoring younger students in pharmacology and chemistry.

Joining the Varsity Blues

Skeans did not arrive in Toronto as a starter. Her first season involved reserve minutes and learning the system. But over time, her game matured, and by 2024, she was taking on more of a leadership role and starting regularly in the midfield.

“It is not just about being on the field. Everyone has a role to play, and it’s about how you show up day in and day out to support your teammates to play to their potential.” She sees leadership not as shouting from the front but as keeping the group connected, motivated, and cohesive. “[When] we won the OUA championships and then played U SPORTS… we had a lot of really senior, really talented girls… my second year self would say

the coolest thing they did was just bring the team together.

Playing for Team Canada

International play has added another dimension to Skeans’ identity. From Chile to Japan to Australia, she’s competed against top global programs, singing “O Canada” with teammates on fields thousands of kilometres from home.

“It is every athlete’s dream to represent your sport and your country at the highest level that you can… when you get to stand on the pitch, side to side with 20 girls and sing a national anthem in front of a crowd… that’s a pretty neat feeling. If I could chase that feeling for the rest of my life, I would.”

Most recently, Skeans was named to the 2025 International Hockey Federation (FIH) Women’s Junior World Cup roster, and is set to represent Canada again in December.

She recalls adjusting to the pace, tactics, and language barriers of international play. She remembers the thrill of mid-game adaptations, when the team worked as one unit without waiting for coaching instructions. “The level of dedication that people bring to the sport, across the world… It shows up in different playing styles, and it shows up in different post-game traditions… you’re playing against people that are speaking a different language than you, [which can be intimidating].”

Skeans still has goals in field hockey. She hopes to play in Europe or complete a gap-year season abroad. Her second U21 World Cup in Chile will mark a turning point — a capstone to her youth career, and possibly a launchpad to future national team opportunities.

Whether on turf or in a lab coat, Skeans is clear about her mission. In aspiring to lead with purpose, support those around her, and chase big goals with humility, she’s already left the Blues better than she found them.

What is the football recruiting process at the University of Toronto?

Navigating the bridge from playing at the high school level to university

Ella Tsotsos Varsity Contributor

For many athletes entering university, playing a sport at the postsecondary level is the goal. Athletes at most universities achieve this by either walking on to teams by trying out once they arrive, or are recruited by coaches prior to their acceptance. Student-athletes who are recruited to play football at U of T must ensure that they can manage their academics and athletic training,

While football already runs in the blood of Americans, Canadian college football is becoming more popular. At the University of Toronto, football has and continues to draw a large audience.

The Vanier Cup is the highest accolade Canadian student athletes can achieve in football, and is awarded annually to the best national collegiate program in U SPORTS. The Blues won the firstever Vanier Cup in 1965 at Varsity Stadium, and last brought home the title in 1993 against the

and for many football athletes, the effort to join Canadian university teams at the OUA level begins as early as grade 10.

Individuals attempting to join write to the coaches and staff of the school of interest and can provide highlight clips and game recaps. Once a player of interest is determined, the coaching staff of the particular university will attend a game to scout the next player to join their roster.

to ensure the potential student-athletes are taking the proper prerequisites for specific programs.

There is no chance of admission to the Blues if academic requirements are not met. Talent matters, but grades determine if a student has a future at the University of Toronto.

Varsity Blues football head coach Darrell Adams shared his insight on college football scouting and how future athletes can prepare for the process of becoming a Varsity Blue in an interview with The Varsity. He is a former professional football player with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Will Cockfield, a receiver on the Varsity Blues football team, shared his experience with being The

. “I made sure I had the proper grades for the program I was trying to enter at UofT, and then I contacted the recruiting coordinator who I had received a recruitment email [from weeks

The recruitment process begins well before a player intends to graduate. Grade 11 becomes a pivotal year for many future OUA athletes, as this is when relationship-building with coaches

At U of T, coaches and staff will reach out to their player of interest and their coaches for further contact. This is followed by the request made by coaches for transcripts

Mauling towards recognition and relevance: Expanding rugby in the North Women’s Rugby team spearheads the sport’s growth in Canada

Jean Patrick Vidad Varsity Contributor

Despite falling to England in the final of the World Cup of Rugby, the Canadian Women’s Rugby team doesn’t have any reason to hang their heads. Not only did they capture their second ever silver in the tournament’s history, but they also won the hearts of Canadians, who rallied behind the team as they capped off a historic run.

En route to a showdown with the English squad, Canada took down the sport’s most formidable juggernaut, the New Zealand Black Ferns, in the semis, and spoiled the Kiwi’s bid for a third consecutive crown.

Women’s team’s rise to World No. 2 2024 marked a year unlike any other for the Women’s Rugby team. With head coach Kevin Rouet at the helm, Canada attained significant achievements. The squad kicked off the 2024 rugby season with their first-ever win against New Zealand in the Pacific Four Series, finishing the tournament with an immaculate slate after downing USA and Australia earlier in the same tournament.

Canada climbed to second in the World Women’s Rugby rankings in May 2024 after handing France a 46–24 beatdown in the WXV World Series. With the team’s ascension to the World No. 2 rank, Canada built on a burgeoning momentum entering 2025, a crucial World Cup year. They have maintained this ranking to this day.

Rugby’s surge in popularity at home

Although not at the same level as hockey, basketball, or soccer in terms of recognition and relevance in the Canadian landscape, particularly for Women’s Sports, Rugby has grown tremendously with the success of its team, signalling that the sport is on the verge of becoming a phenomenon.

This popularity was on full display as the world celebrated with Canada after its rugby sevens team landed a historic second-place finish at the 2024 Olympics last year. The 15’s team on the other hand packed TD Place in August, setting record numbers in attendance playing in their last tune-up game against the US in Ottawa before the 2025 World Cup.

When asked about Canada’s takeover in women’s sports in an interview with CBC, national team member Olivia Apps replied, “It does feel like we're at, like, the middle of something that’s about to really explode.” She added, “I hope this Rugby World Cup does that for women’s rugby, particularly, but for women’s sport generally. But I’m hoping it’s [not just] momentary… We have the [Los Angeles (LA)] Olympics, which is basically at home for Canada. It’s not too far away. And there’s just a lot of excitement within the sport right now in Canada."

Notable rugby players on the Varsity Blues U of T also boasts a notable connection to the Women’s National Rugby Team. Marlene Donaldson, a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education (BPHE) alumna of the 2001 graduating class, etched herself in the institution’s history as an inductee of the Varsity Blues Hall of Fame for playing Rugby. She is also a former member of the Canadian National Team. Her passion for the sport drove her to unforeseen success both on and off the field.

Donaldson attributed her interest in the sport to her classmate, Stacie Dalrymple, who suggested that she should try Rugby after her plan of joining the basketball team didn’t pan out. She remarked in a 2022 interview with the U of T Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education, “It wasn’t until my second year, though, when I decided to see what it was all about.

“The main goal is to just try to utilize football as a vehicle to help these student athletes create better lives for themselves; you know hard work, lessons talking about growth and teamwork, chemistry, sacrifice and discipline and all those things that come with being a football player. Those are the things that we try to improve on rather than to get 40,000 people in the seats,” said Adams.

To future student athletes who are pursuing a career at U of T, particularly Varsity Blues football, personal and academic growth is crucial. Ensuring both your academics and talent can secure a spot should take priority. The major question Coach Adams asks when seeking his next player is how serious they are about school. Having a strong academic background allows student athletes to thrive at U of T to ensure they are serious about their sport and education.

“You got to get your grades right. We are the number one academic school in Canada. Top 25 in the world. We are talking about an Ivy League education,” said Adams.

Adams shared that, as coaches, it is their job to enable students to reach their maximum potential. “I want those guys to think bigger. I want them to dream big and chase their dreams. I want to be able to find ways to motivate them.”

Being a part of the Varsity Blues football team comes with hard work and determination. For those seeking a spot for next season’s Varsity Blues football team, preparedness in academics and athletics is a must.

Then, as soon as I got out there, I knew this was what I should be doing. [Rugby] fits me like a glove.”

She held plenty of accolades while donning the navy blue and white from 1996–2000. Donaldson was the first U of T student to garner Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) all-Canadian honours in 1998, while being named twice as an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all-star, serving as captain for four years.

She remained humble despite her success, but appreciated recognition over it, saying, “It was great to accomplish those things, and no matter how humble you are, it feels great anytime you're acknowledged and recognized amongst your peers.”

The pinnacle of her career came when she played for the 2010 World Cup, where she helped Canada place sixth in the said tournament. Having moved past her playing days, Donaldson teaches at Queen Margaret’s School in Duncan, BC, as the senior school athletic director. Her goal is to give back to the sport that shaped her into what she is today: “If I can instill any of the positive things that have happened to me over my career, then I want to make sure I give that to other people.”

Call for Indigenous Contributors

Hello readers! The Varsity’s annual Indigenous Issue will print this November. We’re looking for stories and artwork about the diversity of experiences of Indigenous U of T students, staff, and faculty. For this issue, we’re offering the following honoraria to contributors who identify as Indigenous:

Cover art: $200

Photo essay or comic: $100

General articles in any section (600–800 words): $75

We’ll be accepting pitches on a rolling basis, but they’ll all be due by November 5. Pitches for both written or visual pieces should explain your specific story or art idea in a few sentences. In addition to written articles, we’re looking for cover art, photo essays, or comics. If you’d like to pitch a visual arts piece, please email Chloe Weston at creative@thevarsity.ca. To pitch written articles, please email Medha Surajpal at editor@thevarsity.ca, and I’ll forward your message to the appropriate section editor.

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