As we move into a new academic year at U of T, it’s crucial to understand the events that have shaped our university. The Varsity broke down some important news from this past year that any student should know about.

Tuition increase for non-Ontario domestic and international students

The first thing that students can expect for the upcoming academic year is an increase in domestic and international tuition, as per the motion passed by U of T’s Governing Council in March. For 2022 and 2023, non-Ontario domestic and graduate students should expect a three per cent increase, whereas international students can expect a two per cent increase.

Since Ontario froze domestic tuition and cut provincial funding for postsecondary schools, the university has been increasing international tuition as an alternative way of raising revenue.

The increase in tuition was defended by Vice-President and Provost Cheryl Regehr, who affirmed that all policies should be considered in raising revenue given the provincial measures. On the other hand, many students criticized the decision, claiming that it does not align with the university’s policies and values and could discourage non-Ontario students from coming to U of T.

Return to in-person controversies

In fall 2021, after over a year of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the university began a gradual return to in-person learning that caused conflicting opinions among staff, faculty, and students.

In January, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) held a town hall to discuss students’ concerns and expectations for the following winter semester. The town hall ended up discussing safety measures, vaccine mandates, and a possible hybrid mode of learning as the best way of addressing students’ needs and slowly returning to in-person classes. During the meeting, many students expressed concerns regarding the efficacy of UCheck in preventing outbreaks and U of T’s vaccine mandates that didn’t consider students who needed medical exemptions.

Following the meeting, a petition advocating for hybrid learning in the winter 2022 semester gathered over 3,000 signatures. In the petition, students expressed concerns about the rise in COVID-19 cases. Concerns were also raised about international students travelling home during the pandemic, especially to areas with a higher number of cases than in Canada. It was said that this could increase exposure to COVID-19 if everyone were to return in person.

On the other hand, as the university officially announced plans to return in person in winter 2022, some students expressed hope and excitement about the change. Other students claimed that online classes negatively affected their mental health, as they had to deal with isolation and loneliness. Most of the students interviewed by The Varsity were looking forward to reconnecting with the community in person and meeting new people.

U of T advocacy efforts

U of T has also made efforts of advocacy throughout this past year with regard to its sexual violence policy, divestment from fossil fields, and signing of the Scarborough Charter.

In October of last year, U of T announced the review of its sexual violence policy, which is required every three years. The review is led by the dean of U of T’s Faculty of Nursing, Linda Johnston, and the director of the Sexual & Gender Diversity Office, Allison Burgess, and the review team receives feedback from student groups and stakeholders.

A month before the announcement, the provincial government had also announced new requirements for sexual violence policies, including that students who report sexual violence shouldn’t face violations of drug or alcohol policies’ repercussions and that survivors shouldn’t be questioned about sexual history and expression.

Also in October, President Meric Gertler announced that U of T will stop all direct investments in fossil fuel companies that are part of U of T’s endowment fund over the following year, and that U of T will stop all overall investments by 2030.

The divestment is the first of a three-part plan to address climate change, as the organization that handles the universities’ investments, the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation, commits to having net zero carbon emissions associated with its portfolio by 2050.

Campus groups that advocate for climate justice were happy with the announcement, but also reminded students that the University Person Plan (UPP) has not followed the divestment yet.

In November, members from post-secondary institutions around Canada signed the Scarborough Charter to support concrete ways of dealing with anti-Black racism and fostering inclusion. The Charter, drafted by the Inter-Institutional Advisory Committee and led by UTSC Vice-President & Principal Wisdom Tettey, aims for institutions to get involved in the Black community development, recognize the role of diversity in excellence, remove equity barriers, and take more concrete actions toward Black inclusion.

As mentioned by Greg Fergus — MP for the Hull—Aylmer region and chair of the Parliamentary Black Caucus — Black Canadians, who make up about 3.5 per cent of the total population, are underrepresented in university leadership and faculty jobs, in which they get about 0.8 per cent and 1.9 per cent of representation, respectively. According to Fergus, these statistics demonstrate that it is important that universities take measures to fairly represent the Canadian population.

Student union controversies

The UTSU, SCSU, and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) all faced backlash this year for their handling of controversies related to Israel and Palestine.

The UTSU was criticized by pro-Palestine advocates after it rescinded its signature from a letter written and released by the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA). In the letter, the MSA condemned “human rights violations in Palestine” and called for U of T to discontinue its Munk One trip to Israel. Tensions were high due to escalating violence in the Israel and Palestine region, as well as the university’s mishandling of a scandal in the Faculty of Law related to the hiring of a pro-Palestine legal scholar Dr. Valentina Azarova. The union later signed the letter again after a lengthy debate at their July Board of Directors meeting.

The SCSU also faced backlash from motions it passed at its Annual General Meeting in November. Both motions reaffirmed its commitment to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which demands the union only work with companies that do not profit off Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

President Meric Gertler later condemned both motions, stating that they attempt to control the language and views of Jewish students, and also that the motions normalize discrimination against the Jewish students. The university also withheld the funds from the UTGSU that it had allocated to the latter’s BDS caucus.

Another topic of controversy involving the SCSU and the ​​University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union was its statement addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The statement attributed the war in Ukraine to “the pursuit of political control, land, resources and power,” while blaming NATO’s perpetuation of “imperialism and capitalism” and Russia’s “capitalist interests.” It also wrote that Canada, as a “settler-colonial state and Imperialist power,” is also responsible for the war.

The statement, originally published on Instagram, faced backlash from students, with several commentators criticizing the unions’ lack of attribution of the conflict to Russian aggression and over-emphasis on NATO’s expansion.

In November, 2021, the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU) held its Annual General Meeting, in which it presented reports and passed a motion for its executives’ pay increase.

While the SCSU president previously received $14.76 per hour and the SCSU vice-presidents received $13.53, the motion proposed that all executive members would receive $19 per hour, with a maximum of 40 paid hours per week. The pay increase was implemented in November 2021.

The decision was explained by former SCSU President Sarah Abdillahi, who claimed that most of the student unions in the GTA pay their executives $19 per hour, and that they wanted the SCSU to align with that pattern. Previously, the UTSU had taken a similar decision, adjusting all executive salaries from $16 per hour to $19 per hour in 2020.

On the other hand, Yardena Rosenblum, the Jewish Student Life president, claimed to be concerned that SCSU members were receiving a raise without any promise of additional work.

Meanwhile, the SCSU’s reports showed that both the union’s revenue and expenses have decreased two per cent and eight per cent, respectively, from the previous year, while its net assets increased by 35 per cent.

The UTSU, on the other hand, has been experiencing issues involving a lack of engagement with the union, which resulted in it having no presidential candidates for the spring 2022 elections. The union had previously extended its nomination by a week but was not able to gather candidates. At the union’s spring by-election, the position was won by Omar Gharbiyeh, who was formerly the UTSU’s vice-president public & university affairs.

This occurrence follows a trend of lack of participation in the UTSU over the last few years, with several executive positions being uncontested. Furthermore, UTSU’s bylaws state that candidates require a certain number of signatures from students for nomination, which can be a hindrance when interested students cannot meet that minimum. Cole Currie, the UTSU’s chief returning officer, explained that the union is taking measures to increase participation.