March 11, 2010University of Toronto’s Independent Weekly Vol. XXXIII N0. 2

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Palestine takes podiumfor Israeli Apartheid Week

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Theda GC code

Attendees at the Governing Council Town Hall on March 1 voiced a great deal of criticism about the U of T’s Code of Stu-dent Conduct. U of T admin-istration’s recent usage of the code has raised concerns among student leaders and activists.

Established in 1992 (and most recently revised in 2002), the Code of Student Conduct outlines accepted student be-haviour. It lists non-academic offenses and the procedures and sanctions used when those offenses arise.

The code has faced criticism since its inception, but the re-cent surge of attention is the result of a planned adminis-trative update of the code. Jo-eita Gupta, a current member of Governing Council and Vice President External for the As-sociation of Part-Time Under-graduate Students (APUS), and Oriel Varga, a previous Uof T governor (2004-05) and Ex-ecutive Director of APUS, have been especially vocal in stress-ing the update as a “cause of concern for student activists, student leaders and the student community broadly speaking.”

Gupta and Varga advocate abolishing the code altogether. They argue that the contents of the code and the recent history of its usage demonstrate that it is a “political tool” of repres-sion, a means to “silence dissent and stifl e activism.”

Gupta believes that a perfunc-tory examination of the code re-veals a sense of “redundancy” in comparison to other existing university policies. She points out that the university already has policies in place for many of the areas addressed in the code (sexual harassment, residence misconduct, etc.). Members of the university community

UTSU slates debate not clean

the newspaper

Continued on page 3

Women’s groups from around Toronto protested outside of OISE on Saturday as part of International Women’s Day.

mnrupe Virk

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Code of Student Conduct called into controversy

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Continued on page 3

James Finlay of Change U of T awaits his turn at slate debate

Moyse, U of T’s golden girl

Here’s looking at Trampoline Hall

TOM

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SOaSchiLLe cLark-menDeS & kim Saka

Campus activists tried to turn heads towards Palestine’s cause this past week, as U of T hosted the sixth an-nual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). The week focused on the strategy of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanc-tions (BDS) to pressure Israel about the seizure of Palestinian lands and the imprisonment of the West Bank populace behind an eight-foot con-crete wall.

Thirty Ontario MPPs passed a motion on February 25 to con-demn the week and its activities. The motion presented the opinion that its commemoration serves to incite hatred towards Israel as a democratic state. Furthermore, the motion stated, “‘apartheid’ in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa.”

The BDS campaign, born in 2005 and inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apart-heid, sounds a worldwide call for nations to pressure their respective

governments to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. “These non-violent measures,” the call de-clares, “should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recog-nize the Palestinian people’s inalien-able right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law.” Over 500 orga-nizations currently endorse BDS. IAW was observed in 40 cities this year.

The percept it refers to is “Reso-lution 194,” passed shortly after the 1948 Israeli War of Independence (known to Palestinians as “Al Nak-ba” – “The Disaster”) by the United Nations General Assembly. This calls for Palestinians’ Right to Re-turn and right for compensation of lost property.

In Toronto, IAW included events every evening, culminating in a sold-out rap show, “Hip Hop for Palestine – Won’t Stop ‘till da Wall Drops,” featuring Palestinian hip-hop artist Abeer Alzinaty (a.k.a

Rotberg’s first degree burn

aLan jOneS

“As I looked at my degrees on the wall, it became clear to me that I was ashamed to be associated with a university that permitted something that was ideologically perverse, historically inaccurate, and clearly did not meet the mini-mum standards for taking place on a university campus.” So says Howard Rotberg, a lawyer, com-munity worker, and U of T gradu-ate who announced on his blog last week that he would be returning both of his degrees (in History and Law) to President David Naylor. “I am giving back to the University of Toronto what they are ‘gifting’ to the Jewish State by allowing Israel Apartheid (sic) Week to take place - the university is allowing anti-Semitism by allowing the demoni-zation, application of double-stan-dards, and the delegitimization of the State of Israel,” he wrote.

Rotberg, an outspoken defender of the Israeli state, corresponded with the newspaper via email this week. He does not believe that

freedom of speech in its absolute form should extend to the univer-sity grounds.

“The arguments by Naylor that the university is just permitting free-dom of respect and diversity, are, at the least, disingenuous, and at any rate are too shallow and simplistic to be those of a representative of a great university,” he told the news-paper. “The university has no duty to host on its property, for pay or for free, every nonsensical organization on the face of the earth. There are other forums available for groups that do not meet the intellectual standard of the university.”

Rotberg maintains that he does not harbour any ill-will towards the current students of the university. “I hope you are not insulted by my actions; I hope you realize that I am motivated by a wish to preserve our liberal freedoms and to maintain U. of T’s standing as a serious and outstanding university that gave so much to me in the 70s.”

The Offi ce of the President was contacted, but did not respond by press time.

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Alum returns degree to Naylor:thinks Israeli Apartheid weak

Semra eYLuL SeVi

After years of uncontested UTSU elections, this year sees two full

slates facing off: Change U of T and Stronger Together.

the blotters

GOT A JUICY SCOOP? CALL OUR HOTLINE: 416-593-1552 OR DROP BY OUR OFFICE

Calling all plucky young reporters to write up juicy scoops. Send us an email at thenewspaper@gmail.com

O, Canada strikes a gender-dissonant chord

F O U R H U N D R E D W O R D S E A C H

martha weiner

In what’s promising to be the hottest non-story of last week, people across our great nation have been fretting about a proposed change to our nation-al anthem. What’s the change? Well, the plan is to jettison “in all our sons’ command” in favour of “thou dost in us command.” It’s hardly an earth-shak-ing change, and I, for one, welcome it. This is not the first anthem change in Canadian history. “God Save the Queen” and “The Maple Leaf Forever” had their days, and who sheds any tears for them now?

It’s easy to dismiss Nancy Ruth as a bra-burning feminazi, out to destroy our proud national identity, but the truth is that the original line does have old-fashioned patriarchal overtones. Why must the “sons” command? The new words don’t change anything about Canadian identity, they simply reinforce it. I believe in a tolerant, in-clusive and flexible Canada, a country that’s not afraid to lead by humani-tarian example. When we welcome newcomers as citizens, one of the first things they will learn about Canada is its national anthem. Do we really want to greet them with some outdated lyrics that leave out 51 percent of the world’s population?

In an effort to put a little more pulp in our paper, both petty and indecent, we present you with the scoundrelly deeds that kept campus cops busy over the past week.

March 4thOccurrence type: Lost property; Location: Wet-more Hall; Details: Cam-pus police investigated a report of missing keys.

Occurrence type: Harass-ment emails; Location: Sidney Smith Hall (Interi-or); Details: Campus police investigated harassment emails that were sent to a staff member.

Occurrence type: Fire; Lo-cation: Sidney Smith Hall (Exterior); Details: Cam-pus Police along with TFS investigated a fire inside a garbage can. The fire was extinguished.

March 8th

Occurrence type: Theft;Location: New College 3;Details: Campus Police at-tended and investigated a theft of two bicycles.

BUSTED FOR MARIJUANA?The police were wrong to arrest you, because

the marijuana prohibition has recently become constitutionally invalid, again.

Get in touch with U of T Philosophy Professor Hutchinson to find out how you (or your lawyer) should defend you from

this vexatious charge.

Did U of T officials act against you? Let Prof. H. show you how they can be sued for punitive damages:

doughutchinson@gmail.com.

At the end of the day, what are we changing? A couple of words. Words you probably rarely think of, and almost never sing. The number of syllables re-mains the same, and it won’t affect the meaning or tone of the anthem. This is a tempest in a teacup, and I don’t like how it seems to bring out the inner re-actionary in otherwise reasonable peo-ple. It won’t take Canadians long to ad-just to this change, if it happens, and by the Sochi Olympics in 2014, people will happily be belting out the lyrics uncon-cerned. It can’t possibly hurt anyone, and it can only include more people.

Detractors of the change tend to point out that the current lyrics rep-resent tradition. This is not a com-pelling argument. Simply because something has always been a certain way, it does not mean that it should always remain so. We can only make progress through change and experi-mentation. It’s how women got the vote, slavery was abolished, and dis-parities between rich and poor were reduced.

I urge every Canadian to think about the small change proposed to the national anthem. If it increases women’s confidence and pride in their country, isn’t it worth it?

VeenaY SehDeV

When you hear True patriot love, In all thy sons command, what comes to mind? For me, it’s Canadians singing with pride for their country. Hats off, hands to their hearts. Men and women standing. Wait the women aren’t standing. Why? Be-cause the anthem says ‘sons’ and that’s chauvinism.

So what’s the proposed alternative: thou dost in us command. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

If you’re pissed, no worries; the idea was scrapped by the Conservatives only two days after its introduction. They re-thought the rewrite because of public out-rage and can you blame the public?

First, the lyric in question simply means that all sons should have love for their country. I hardly believe that girls love their country less, so don’t get your ovaries in a twist. Second, thou dost in us command is so musically grotesque that even the deaf complained.

Worse, what would be next if they en-acted the proposed deformation? Evo-lution keep are land, glorious and free? Or maybe a homage inclusive to all the religions: Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, Vishnu, keep are land... And don’t forget, there’s the French version, which is so laden with Catholic imagery that it could be considered a holy text.

To sum it up, this change was never go-ing to happen, so why the proposal in the first place?

Why would they want to defile the an-them because a bra-burning fringe group can’t get laid? Why would they want men-struate on tradition and history because one feminazi’s rug munching partner left her and she decided to complain? Well why you ladies are liberating yourselves by taking off your panties Stephen Harper is introducing the budget.

This is a brilliant ploy by Stevie to hide a budget that is only concerned with bal-ancing the books and unconcerned with global warming or improving daycare and preschool education.

This gender-neutral scam also serves to distract us from the Afghan detainee situation which almost everyone has for-gotten.

If you ladies want to demonstrate true patriot love, you should show it by getting outraged about Canada’s current prob-lems and not an anthem composed in 1908.

So put on your panties, douse the bra-fires, put on some glasses, and criticize the government. If Canuck women can com-mand a country, or a budget, then there is no need to change an anthem.

2 March 11, 2010

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ContributorsAschille Clarke-Mendes, Tom Cordoso, Alan Jones,

Nicole Leung, Kim Saka, Semra Eylul Sevi, Thiru Shathasivam, Mnrupe Virk

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Associate News EditorsTomasz BugajskiTejas Parasher

Science EditorTim Ryan

Senator Nancy Ruth proposed a change to national anthem in the name of gender

equality. Amid public outcry, the Canadian government shot her

down. Should Canadians

stand on guard for the original O Canada or embrace the change?

the brief

are not exempt from national laws, so serious violations on campus, Gupta argues, would fall under the Code of Criminal Conduct.

“The only thing that comes solely under the jurisdiction of the code is the matter of regu-lating dissent, and the mat-ter of regulating protest,” said Gupta. “It has primarily been used against people who have been critical of university poli-cies.”

In light of recent events, Gupta’s criticism appears valid. In February 2002, students who protested against a code revision enabling dual prosecu-tion (i.e., an individual could be charged under both the Code of Conduct and criminal law) received threats of investiga-tion and prosecution under the code. In March 2008, 14 stu-dents who participated in a sit-in protest against fee increases were charged and arrested un-der the code. In March 2009, two students were threatened with misconduct under the code after painting water-soluble handprints on campus build-ings to promote Envirofest.

The code applies to all reg-istered students. “Students are treated as a different class of people, with a different set of guidelines,” said Gupta. “No-body knows about the code and yet everybody is subjected to it.”

Gupta and Varga argue for students’ right to protest. They note how huge changes have been brought to the university as a result of student protest, such as on-campus childcare.

GC sees red over green

As U of T scrambles to patch up recent financial blunders and put together a new invest-ment plan, many students and staff are concerned about where their money might be headed.

In 2007-2008, nearly 30 per-cent of the university’s endow-ment went down the drain due to investment mistakes. Univer-sity of Toronto Asset Manage-ment (UTAM), a private firm hired to oversee all institutional funds, had decided to adopt an American model of investment. U of T’s money was channeled into liquid assets like hedge-funds and private equity.

This high-risk model had worked (and still works) for private American schools with massive endowments, like Har-vard or Yale. It proved to be a disaster for U of T. The current administration, under David Naylor and VP Business Affairs Cathy Riggall, is thus burdened with digging the university out of a major financial hole. UTAM has been asked to overhaul most of its previous policies. President Naylor stresses the need for a “more stable” invest-ment portfolio. He says that U of T’s large size and unique col-lege structure mean that it can-not afford to gamble money on unpredictable liquid assets.

But there is debate as to what “stability” really entails. In light of the ongoing Governing Coun-cil elections, students are won-dering how much say they will have on where the university channels their money.

The issue was raised in last week’s GC Townhall. A major concern was whether U of T

tejaS paraSher would make unsavoury invest-ments, without any prior dia-logue, in order to get on finan-cially firm ground. After all, in the name of research, U of T has historically poured money into controversial companies like Lockheed-Martin.

“UTAM needs to have at least something of an ethical voice,” said GC Candidate Daniel Gat-to. “It should be able to say to a company such as Bear Lake Gold that melting a glacier to get to 0.2 percent of the gold in a region has consequences that don’t always appear on paper.”

Currently, plans to work to-wards a more ethical invest-ment model inevitably run into the lopsided nature of U of T governance. UTAM is a private corporation, with its own board of directors and minimal ad-ministrative regulation. Bow-ing to public pressure in 2005, the Business Affairs Board created a Responsible Invest-ing Committee which included two students. The role of this committee has solely been to put forward suggestions and advice, not to make decisions. Real power regarding the uni-versity’s finances still rests with UTAM. The organization has substantial autonomy in all its choices.

For GC Candidate Olivier Sorin, this needs to change if there is to be any fiscal trans-parency at the university. “Even the administration has real-ized that enough is enough,” he said at the meeting. “UTAM must be held more accountable. As members of the Governing Council, we should have the op-portunity to ask where and how our money is being invested.”

“The very existence of the code is a problem in the context of the university, which is sup-posed to nurture free speech, dissent, debate and discussion,” Gupta explained.

Gupta, Varga, and several stu-dent groups have proposed al-ternatives to the code. A student bill of rights, a human rights

code of campus, and the forma-tion of a committee with greater student representation to draft a new policies are among the options. At a recent Governing Council meeting, Vice-Provost of Students Jill Matus suggested the possibility of abolishing the code if opposition to it became widespread.

the campus Today at 10:00 pm UTSU and PHE present U of T’s annual KIN KRASH event at Circa nightclub with DJ Mike Toast and special drum perfor-mance by Gabe. Tickets are $10 at the door or $5 purchased in advance at Sid Smith, the Athletic Centre Lobby and UTSU office from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

the localTourism industry officials in Toronto and Niagara Falls say they are shocked to learn of U.S. state plans to raise passport fees by up to 35 per cent. They are worried it will affect tourist numbers. “It’s difficult to get our American visitors across the border for so many reasons right now,” said Niagara Falls Tourism Chair Wayne Thomson. “This is not good news for tourism destinations.”

the world A vicious, hurricane-strength winter storm ripped through Europe on Sunday, leaving at least 51 dead. Three people died in Spain, one in Germany, and one in Portugal as a result of the the destruction. The storm also struck Belgium, with one death reported there as well.

the weirdBritish police have caught and fined a woman for driving at 70mph while flossing her teeth and looking into her rear-view mirror. “We’ve caught women applying lipstick and makeup, and men using electric razors on their way to work,” a spokesman said of the recent charge. “This is the first time we’ve seen someone flossing their teeth. It’s par-ticularly dangerous because you need to use both hands.” The woman was fined $91 for her crime. -Amina Stella

3March 11, 2010 the news

Codecont’d from page 1

Sabreena da Witch) and Iraqi MC “The Narcicyst.” The events includ-ed lectures, film screenings, and demonstrations featuring promi-nent activists, writers, and profes-sors.

“What started as a small campus event at the University of Toronto has become a strong global anti-apartheid movement, standing up for justice, equality and human rights,” said organizer Lama Al Choufani.

Speaker Jenny Peto, an activist with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and student at OISE, argued that, like Canada, Israel uses its queer-friendly, anti-racist, gender-equality, egalitarian status to smokescreen its human rights atrocities. She called for people to become active in the fight against

IAWcont’d from page 1

oppressive systems. “To remain neutral is to be complacent with perpetuating injustice,” she said.

Adir Krafman and Aviv Sarner, members of U of T Hillel, argue that Israel is not an apartheid state. “The use of the word apartheid leaves no room for discussion,” ex-plained Krafman. “If it were called Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Week and brought in speakers from both sides to try to do some conflict reso-lution, then it wouldn’t have been condemned this way.” Krafman maintains that the week is held to delegitimize the Jewish state, which is why some people see it as anti-Semitic. “It’s more anti-Israel than it is pro-Palestine,” he said.

The events drew parallels be-tween Israeli society and other marginalized communities, includ-ing the apartheid regime in South Africa. Nobel Peace Prize winner and patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said in an interview with The Guardian in 2002, “I’ve been very deeply distressed in my visit to

the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa.” Similari-ties highlighted include legislated discrimination in property owner-ship, family law, citizenship rights, and freedom of movement. IAW speaker Rabab Abdulhadi, Pales-tinian feminist activist, supports BDS’ efforts in the hope that it leads to trade embargoes, like those pre-viously imposed on South Africa.

Shawn Brant of the Mohawk Aboriginals also spoke at the IAW lectures. He drew comparisons between Palestinians’ conditions in the West Bank to the aboriginal standard of living in Ontario. There too, he said, aboriginals are engaged in land disputes with a larger, domi-nant force. In a chronicle akin to the David-Goliath battle, he describes the futile efforts of a boy throwing rocks at armed police. “I asked my father, ‘Why do they throw rocks? What is the point?’ to which he re-plied, ‘It represents our courage, our valour, to show them that we are not losing without a fight.’”

Slate debatecont’d from page 1

Approximately 75 students were in attendance at the hastily orga-nized all-candidates debate at the Bahen Centre; 99 people listened to the live stream on UTSU’s website.

Steve Masse of Woodsworth College is challenging incumbent Adam Awad for the presidency. Masse is running on a platform of change while Awad is running on a record of experience. The elected slate will represent U of T’s 45,000 undergraduate students.

Students had the opportunity to ask candidates about their platform, the electoral process, and what each candidate brings to the plate.

The debates were heated. Mod-erator Dave Meslin had difficulty calling the room to order: personal attacks flew between candidates, students went over set time limits to ask questions, hooting and hol-lering interrupted candidates’ state-ments.

Isabel Lay, President of the Equity Studies Students’ Union, questioned Alyssa James, VP Equity Change runner up, on her lack of participa-tion with equity related issues when disability studies faced large spend-ing cuts earlier this year.

James protested Lay’s charge, saying she was involved with other Equity groups and would work with ESSU in the future. “Funding equals

quality, and if elected I will work to increase funding to these groups.”

Mike Maher, Change candidate for VP Internal & Services, ex-pressed concern that the student scholarship guide - Awad’s cam-paign promise on the ‘09-’10 Access slate - was uploaded on UTSU’s website the night before, and that undergrad Emily Hofstetter was not credited for writing the docu-ment. Awad responded that this was an error set to be corrected.

“I take offence that you believe you completed your task as [current UTSU President] Sandy Hudson’s Associate President,” Hadia Akhtar, UTSU VP University Affairs, direct-ed to Masse. Masse rebutted, saying that he had been effective in his role despite problems of short notice for meetings.

“One of the biggest challenges we face is the ability to send e-mails to all our members,” said Awad. Cur-rently UTSU sends their e-mails to Simcoe Hall and they decide when to send it out to students. This is something Awad would like to work to change if elected.

Rolli Adenmosun, VP Internal & Services candidate for Stronger Together, closed by saying “I alone could probably push a car, me and the executive staff could probably push a truck, but 45,000 students together could push a university to anything it wants it to be.”

The election itself will be held on Tuesday March 16 through Thurs-day 18 in various locations on cam-pus.

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There is a reason Trampoline Hall has transcended time and space. I can best describe this amateur lecture night as a bouncy castle of rejected smart-alecky essay topics delivered terribly well.

Co-creator and long time host Misha Glouber-man has polished the unpolishable. Bumbling and stut-tering his way though a hilarious introduction it becomes immediately apparent that his lack of grace has been carefully craft-ed. Opening with,“Oh, what’s that? The show is just starting !?” the audience isn’t sure whether this is part of the show or some tragic malfunction has interjected itself upon the night. But, Glouberman claims this is all part of the Trampoline Hall experience.

That’s why lecturers are forbidden to speak about any expertise knowledge they may have, it’s about regular people responding to a theatrical space. Glou-berman describes this as “reality-based theatre.”

Essential to this improvisational perfor-mance is the question and answer period that follows each of the three lectures.

Experts in inexpert demeanor

Or, as Glouberman carefully explains to the audience, what some call the “Q & A” period. Encouraging the crowds’ par-ticipation he stresses quantity over qual-ity saying, “Many of you may have heard there is no such thing as a bad question, that is obviously false. But, but both your questions are welcome! Uh, your good ones simply more so.”

After explaining to the audience that they may have, “question feelings” I my-

self felt this sensation surfacing. Jeremy Bailey’s lecture on the Rueben sand-

wich, filled me with anticipa-tion to get my own bubbling

inquiries out. Should the Reuban come with

fries or potato chips? Or perhaps merely garnished with a pickle? As usual the audience gobbled up this google searched informa-tion with far more exuberance than

they ever had for a university prof.

Past lectures have ranged from Shannon

Gerard’s irrational fear of whales to Jen Goodhue’s

experiences with “other lives.” Goodhue explains how during her

unemployment she would dress up as different types of professionals and ride the subway. Hilarious and anthropologi-cally stimulating at the same time.

Trampoline Hall runs the first Monday of every month. Recently relocated at the Garrison (1197 Dundas) and consistently a six dollar admission, this lecture night has been running steady for nearly eight years. And it’s no wonder, each show is consistent in its variety of unique top-ics and spontaneous human quirks that never gets redundant.

Sarrah D’anGeLO

Host Misha Glouberman samples an earful of Reuben sandwich rhetoric

4 March 11, 2010the inside

“ the campus comment ”

“I don’t know I don’t go here.” - Devon

the newspaper asks: UTSU elections are happening soon. If you could get theUTSU to make an actual change to the university, what would you want that to be?

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“Cheaper food around campus.”- Polly

“I always see them out there doing Drop Fees protests and whatever, and I don’t know if any of that actually works, but it would be nice if it did.”- Amanda

“More access, and longer dining hall hours.”- Katie

“I’d make them get rid of flat fees.”- Zach

“I don’t know what the control, but I’d like them to lower food prices around campus.”- Britta

the listings

On Feb. 24, Heather Moyse, U of T Master’s graduate in occupational therapy, won gold in women’s two-man bobsleigh with Kail-lie Humphries in the Vancouver Olympics.

The women’s competition con-sisted of four heats. The team with the shortest aggregate time took home the gold. Moyse and Humphries, Canada 1, led the competition from start to fi nish. They broke the track record three times in their four runs.

In the fi nal run, Moyse and Humphries came last in the start list. Team Germany 2, which started three teams ahead of them, was disqualifi ed after a frightening crash. This did not affect the duo’s perfect performance. Although they were ranked behind their teammates in their fi nal run, it was good enough for gold. The duo were elated and screamed with joy when they realized that they had become Canada’s golden girls.

Other than hockey golden boy Sidney Crosby, Moyse is the only athlete from the Maritimes to win a medal in the Vancouver Olym-pics. Hundreds of people cheered widely as P.E.I. welcomed their hero back to her home town last

Thursday the 11th

Jazz NightThe Circles Quartet is play-ing Jazz Night upstairs at the Tequila Bookworm. The relaxed atmosphere and folk-infused jazz im-prov make this the perfect venue to have a pleasant drink with a friend or just relax and crack open a book. 9 pm. Free.

Friday the 12th

“Go”Opening Reception for “Go,” the Sixth annual Trinity College Art Show. Take a break from dreary library hours, and go see this dynamic showcase of the university’s artistic talents. 7 pm. March 11th-14th in Seeley Hall. Free.

// Fuck the Internet //Dance away the decades with pre-Internet pop. Clinton’s Tavern. 10 pm. $5.

Saturday the 13th

U of T Film Festival100 fi lms from 15 countries all in one day promises an eclectic cinematic experi-ence. Controversial guest director Babak Payami will introduce his movie One More Day. Hart House Theatre. $5 Students.

Shake a Tail Dance Night3 words: Retro Dance Party. Clinton’s Tavern. 9 pm. $5.

Top 5 under $5

Students hang out on the interactive art installation Model for a public space [knot], by Adrian Blackwell,

located in the Reading Room at Hart House.

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Moyse: U of T’s golden girlnicOLe LeunG

week. “I’m thrilled to be home. I was looking forward to coming home before even the games start-ed,” Moyse told CBC. Moyse also

said that she is also very happy to see the swells of pride that swept across the country because of the Canadian athletes’ successes.

After her gold medal perfor-mance, Moyse, also a rugby player, now sets her sights back to rugby. As much as she craves a normal life, Moyse is ready to fi ght for a spot in the national rugby team, which will travel to New Zealand and Australia for a rugby tour in April, and then to England in August for the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Moyse is ready for the challenge. “I’m a stubborn redhead,” she told Canwest News Service. “I’m determined, and I like challenges.”

Moyse: U of T’s golden girl

5March 11, 2010 the inside

When you hear ‘Easter Island’ one thing usually comes to mind: Moai. Moai are those massive (some reaching as high as 33 feet!) ancient monolithic statues, anatomically dispro-portionate, with short torsos supporting exaggerated heads. Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui), however, is also the source for the discovery of Rapamycin.

In 1964, a group of Canadian scientists arrived on location to study the health of the isolated local population. One of the soil samples they collected during their stay eventually led to the discovery of a novel antibiotic secreted by the soil bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus, and named Rapamycin.

Rapamycin is like the Madon-na of drugs. It was initially de-veloped as an anti-fungal agent until its ability to suppress the immune system was noted. Currently it is prescribed as an immunosuppressant drug, to prevent a patient’s immune sys-tem from rejecting transplanted organs. Furthermore, its ability to prevent cell division led to the development of Torisel, an anti-cancer drug. Last month, however, scientists from Texas may have found another appli-cation for Rapamycin: treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

AD is an irreversible and pro-gressive brain disease, and the most common form of dementia.

An invariant feature of AD is the accumulation of amyloid-β and tau proteins in patient brains. Much evidence suggests the buildups are associated with an age-dependent decrease in au-tophagy, a cellular process de-signed for degrading long-lived proteins and organelles.

A group of researchers lead by Dr. Salvatore Oddo, from the University of Texas Health Science Center, discovered that the buildup of amyloid-β im-pairs the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway, resulting in hyperac-tive signaling in the brains of a mice model of AD. Further-more, mTOR is an inhibitor of autophagy, which could ac-count for the protein deposits in brain. Such aberrant signaling is also known to occur in human patients.

When these mice were admin-istered Rapamycin, a reduction in amyloid-β and tau protein plaques was apparent, via in-duction of autophagy. More ex-citingly, Rapamycin treatment also rescued mice from early learning and memory defi cits.

Scientifi c research often feels cumbersome, moving at a snail’s pace. It is often nice to come across such promising research that can have a profound clini-cal implication. Since Rapamy-cin is already an FDA-approved drug, it has already bypassed many hurdles for initiating clin-ical trials for anti-AD therapy.

Of the many cancer treatments at the disposal of oncologists today, some are less painful and more cost-effective than others. Radia-tion therapy is one cancer treat-ment that is expensive and results in a plethora of side effects includ-ing infertility, hair loss, and dam-age to epithelial surfaces (skin, mouth, bowel system, et cetera). Naturally, any method to reduce the frequency with which radiation is administered would be greatly welcomed.

This is the case, as U of T re-searchers have designed a new test that can signifi cantly reduce the need for radiation therapy for low-risk patients recovering from thyroid cancer surgery.

Radiation treatment after thy-roid cancer surgery is commonly employed as a preventative mea-sure to ensure that any cancer cells remaining post-surgery don’t lead to a recurrence. But radiation, which at one time was adminis-tered post-surgery to all patients, isn’t required in every case.

Professor Emeritus Paul Walfi sh

of medicine at Mount Sinai has led a group that has discovered that a test called post-surgical simulated serum thyroglobin (or Stim-Tg) can accurately predict the need for radiation after surgeries and con-cluded that often, the secondary treatment is unnecessary.

The study, published in the March 10th issue of Head and Neck, followed 104 patients who had undergone thyroid cancer surgery and whom were consid-ered low-risk because their cancer was restricted to the thyroid gland. Three months post-surgery, the test was administered and in the majority of cases (approximately 85%), determined that radiation was not necessary because the sur-gery had in fact removed all of the cancerous tissue.

The result has many positive effects. It saves our healthcare system precious dollars. More im-portantly, patients avoid the many short-term and long-term side ef-fects of radiation treatment, and since the radioisotopes required for the treatment are currently in short supply, those who really do need them will get better access.

U of T research group reveals majority of those recovering from thyroid cancer surgery don’t require additional radiation therapy

Radiation need not apply

tim rYan

The Madonna of drugsTexas researchers find new application for rapamycin

thiru ShathaSiVam

6 March 11, 2010the science

So just who was Roberston Da-vies? According to the play he was like an academic version of House M.D.—minus the grumpy attitude and evil scheming.The Peeled I, a play on the life of Robertson Davies, debuted at Hart House last week. It ex-plored a plethora of hot topics in academia through the hu-mour and wit of Robertson Da-vies’ works and experiences.

K. Reed Needles, the one-man-star of this one-man show, offered a sharp performance exploring the human experi-ence of the academic world, delivering a witty script by play-

Photographers of the Hart House Camera Club will have you entranced by mystic mo-ments suspended within their photos. The subtle manipula-tions of light contrast, focus adjustment and angle displace-ment can change the entire in-terpretation of a picture, leaving you gawking rudely at a collec-tion of eye candy.

HHCC held their 88th annual photography competition last Monday, collecting pieces from the lenses of U of T students, alumni and Hart House mem-bers. Entries were siphoned into six divisions for assessment and judging: Black & White, Colour Prints, People, Places and Nature, Altered Images, Karsh Trophy, and Photograph-ic Essay. Karsh Trophy encom-passes shots taken of campus life and the Photographic Essay which requires three prints ac-companying a short essay.

Spatial architect, multimedia designer and visual story-teller, Esmond Lee, is a Master’s grad-uate from U of T’s Architecture Program. He explains the dis-tinction between the groups as a challenge for the photographer to, “think about their work a little more.” Concerning the di-chotomy between Altered Imag-es and the others, Lee explains, “As a rule of thumb, photo-journalists follow an ethic code of not altering the images for news-purposes. Similarly, artis-tic photographers are allowed to stylize, but they cannot add or remove content to the factual information and that’s import as a photographer.”

Behind the judges’ panel sat a varied merge of arbitrators for critiquing: Toronto based fash-

ion photographer Miguel Jacob, Globe and Mail photojournalist Fernando Morales, and U of T philosophy professor, Wolfram Eilenberger. Technical execu-tion and originality are key cri-teria, and winners recieve sub-stantial monetary prizes as well as having their pieces decorate Hart House walls for a month.

Found at the top of the pot are those rare shots gleaning with intense colour and intact with symbolic, socio-cultural undertones; impossible to rep-licate from your average iPod camera.

“You take the picture, not the camera,” Lee advises to in-voke emotional response, craft-ing stories from images, “It’s all more about your own per-ception and imagination than knowing the buttons.”

The Club will be showcas-ing submissions on March 18th at 6pm in the East Common Room, Hart House. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

Toronto has a dynamic, thriv-ing artistic culture conducive for the trigger-happy paparazzo looking to capture that beauti-ful moment. Hart House Cam-era Club hopes to extract that talent, interactively teaching its members and experiment-ing with innovative techniques. Yearlong membership can be taken advantage of for $25, granting access to traditional darkrooms and chemical sup-plies.

To find out more about the club, please visit http://hhcc.sa.utoronto.ca/. They also have a facebook group, listed as HHCC, where you can find con-venient links to information on club events.

Who was Robertson Davies?Hart House Theatre blurs the line between lecture, theatre, and stand-up

wiLbur huanG

Point, shoot, win at Hart House Camera ClubaSchiLLe cLarke-menDeS

wright John Krisak. The script had a subtle humour and suc-cessfully avoided crossing into dangerously esoteric territory. Theatre-goers could expect to be intellectually stimulated by a performance that was part lecture, part stand-up, but all goodness.

While Krisak walked a dan-gerous line in a segment on re-ligion and science, he managed to handle the debate adequately. Other topics, such as education, literature, mass media and kar-ma were delightfully discussed with a great laugh-out-loud response from the audience. Even well-read spectators were met with the pleasure of listen-

ing to things one already knows. Overrall, it was edu-tainment at its best.

The stage design was mini-malist, making Needle’s speech the main attraction. He was able to act out a variety of colourful characters, in a Rus-sell Peters style, only with a lot more class. Needle’s interpreta-tion of Davies voice was silky smooth, like Morgan Freeman, even if I didn’t understand a thing he said just listening to him talk would have been plea-sure enough.

For those like me who had no idea who Robertson Davies was, the show was both entertaining and enlightening.

Rob Graham’s “Neighborhood” won last year’s the Junior Division trophy at the Hart House Camera Club Photo Exhibition.

7March 11, 2010 the arts

the fashion

Victoria Ellingham, Tattoo Parlour Christina Del Degan, Tattoo Parlour

This Sunday was U of T’s 4th annual Next Top Model at the Tattoo Rock Parlour on Queen West. It was a fantastic event with a great turnout and DJ, and the show featured clothing from fashion heavyweights FCUK and Over the Rainbow, not to mention a fine selection of U of T’s own Beautiful People. Although the models weren’t hard on the eyes, we were slightly disappointed in the clothing itself, lacking in both the avant-garde and je-ne-sais-quoi departments. Is anyone else bored of blah-leggings and the professor vest fad? You know there’s a lack of fashion interest when the show gets better the less the models are wearing. That being said, there were some eye-catching outfits in the audience, here were our two favourites. CAILIN SMART

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8 March 11, 2010the backpage