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Student life in University of Toronto |
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Tuesday, 06 May 2008 |
There are 380 student clubs and organizations associated with the University of Toronto. [23] Full-time undergraduate student government is headed by the University of Toronto Students' Union, formerly known as the Students' Administrative Council. Graduate students are represented by the Graduate Students' Union, the largest union of its kind in Canada, and part-time undergraduates are represented by the Association for Part-time Undergraduate Students. All three student associations are member locals of the Canadian Federation of Students and these student constituencies are represented on the Governing Council of the university.
The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the Toronto Varsity Blues. There are six main sports funded by the university: hockey, football, basketball, track and field, soccer, and swimming. The numerous other sports are funded through donations and fees paid by those participating. The school has two main newspapers. The Varsity and The Newspaper. Each college, faculty, and many other groups also publish newspapers. CIUT is the campus' radio station.
The Hart House Review (HHR) is a Canadian literary magazine / literary journal which publishes a number of the university's bright and eclectic voices in poetry, fiction and art.
Student activism
The University has borne witness to much activism over the years. In 1895, University College students, allegedly led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, boycotted classes for a week after the editor of the Varsity student newspaper was suspended for anti-administration articles. Although King is traditionally given credit for leadership of the strike, recent scholarship has suggested that his involvement has been overstated.
The 1960s saw the creation of Rochdale College, a large high-rise residence where many students and staff lived. It was not officially connected to the university. Rochdale was established as an alternative to what had been seen as the traditional, authoritarian, and paternalistic structures within universities. The college eventually became a haven for local drug culture, partially because the student organizers contracted a biker gang to provide security. Due to violent clashes with police, political pressure forced the college to close in 1975.
In the fall of 1969, after Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau decriminalized homosexuality, the University of Toronto Homophile Association, the first gay and lesbian group in Toronto or on any Canadian university campus, was formed. Jearld Moldenhauer, a research assistant at the Faculty of Medicine, placed an advertisement in The Varsity, asking others to join in setting up an organization. While the first meeting drew a meager 16 people — 15 men and one woman — the group quickly established a significant profile within the community and the city at large. Two decades later, David Rayside, a professor of political science, would organize the Committee on Homophobia. Ten years after that, he would help introduce a sexual diversity studies program at University College, to much success.[26] 35 years after the start of LGBT activism at U of T, the student queer community is represented by the Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans People of the University of Toronto (LGBTOUT).
On February 7, 2007, a number of students from all three campuses, joined by many students from across Ontario, staged one of the largest student protests in Canadian history. The student mass, which numbered in the thousands, demanded the provincial government to lower tuition fees. One month later, on March 8, a smaller number of students held another protest on the same issue. This protest, known as the ‘Student Day of Anger’ consisted of a group of students making loud noises outside the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to mark the one year anniversary of the lift on the tuition fee freeze.
Student groups 
The United Nations Society has also gained tremendous achievements in the past year with best delegate awards at prestigious Model UN conferences in North America including McMUN, the Harvard National Model United Nations and the Canadian International Model United Nations in the year 2007-2008.
The University of Toronto Formula SAE Racing Team has also received accolades recently, taking the Formula Student European Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006 making them one of only five teams to have won three or more championships in this 300 team 26 year old series.[28]
The University of Toronto is also home to many Greek student organizations[29], such as the FSC (Fraternity Sorority Council), although none are officially sponsored by the school.
Student housing
Housing could be an issue for the downtown (St. George) campus. Residences are usually expensive, but most provide a meal plan. Many find it more suitable to share an apartment with a friend off campus. The University's Student Housing Service provides detailed information on various residences as well as housing ads for off-campus rental housing. |
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