Opinion: The Medium is … medium
Engaging with the hellholes of student politics at UTM.
As an international student from a country that is considered to hold a strong democratic tradition, what I see at this university is a pretty meager sight to behold. Strong political opinions are uncommon, and are not regularly held nor protested about at this prestigious university.
Of course we must acknowledge the People’s Circle of Palestine — which demonstrated pro-Palestinian views for disclosure and financial divestment from the University of Toronto (U of T)’s institutional ties to Israeli connections — as an important expression of opinion for the student body. While the People’s Circle of Palestine was not without criticism, it was a real attempt to demand responsibility from the U of T’s governing body and of President Meric Gertler. Now, with our world of smartphones and instant access to all kinds of information, there is a need to further engage and debate about the political nature of our time.
But is this heightened need reflected in the ethos of our current political moment?
This summer’s mayoral by-election in Mississauga breezed by and the voter turnout was 140,020 out of 545,512, or only 25.67 per cent, of its eligible voters. Of this number, only one third voted for the person who actually won.
I’ll do you one worse: the UTMSU 2024-2025 election that is held every winter semester had an impressive voter turnout of 16.3%. Early allegations and later CRO-confirmed truths (which can be read about on The Varsity’s website in greater detail) certainly do not inspire great trust in the democratic process at UTM, the transfer of power, and in our strength as voting students. There is a reduced sense of purpose and confidence that your vote actually matters, and a sense that we can’t trust any generation of UTMSU executives because both sides are supported by the same lineage of the ‘UTMSU elite.’ It’s up to us to care about whether we adhere to democracy and the ideal of free speech, and I am not sure that we do.
A dwindling democracy
The GTA is the most diverse region in Canada, and I cannot help but wonder how strongly ethnicity and non-local upbringing play into the very low voter turnout. Certainly, trust in political institutions and figures is eroding, but people may also be preoccupied with other matters, such as grades, clubs, family matters, and the cost of living. But historically speaking, politics was often a zestful conversation to have, if not a daily one. Why is engaging in student politics memed upon? Is anybody even reading this?
Furthermore, Mississauga’s diverse ethnic population makes it so that different perspectives and levels of comfort in participating in the democratic process may inform people’s decision to vote. In my opinion, the ethnic ideologies that inform peoples‘ worldviews should be tolerated in democratic contexts even when they seem problematic from a liberal standpoint, but not left without questioning. How can we as an international bunch of people coexisting be gatekeepers to our own traditions when now and here is a good place to test out ideological differences?
The importance of a “fourth power”
And here is where The Medium comes in, our ‘fourth power’ at this phenomenal institution. Any independent student newspaper’s job is to promote student perspectives within the limits of a strict word count and very specific spacing requirements. In the past, I found The Medium’s role in engaging with student politics quite lacking: the opinions about UTMSU’s mishaps were not covered rigorously and, though the headlines were gripping, the writing was not so much. Overall, why does this all feel like a gigantic waste of paper?
As someone who is engaged in student politics and a writer for The Medium, I felt I had to throw this voice into the void of what we are doing. Where is the ferocity around a topic that concerns nothing less than our Union and how we organize together? We may not all agree that democracy is the way to go, but uniting together? The Medium has platformed only mild language and unrigorous engagement in student politics, but a student newspaper is supposed to inspire dissent and conversations over provocative and political issues.
There must be a platform where we can speak respectfully, perhaps sometimes sarcastically, and — most importantly — without always politically agreeing with each other, while acknowledging that mindsets, systems of ideas, and beliefs other than their own may still have merit.
Moving forward
So allow me to finish with a solution: TransparencyUTMSU is a group that published vital information on a series of political decisions made by the UTMSU last year, promoting discussion surrounding the extension of the student center, ineffective leadership outcomes, and nepotism in the lineage of presidencies that are set by UTMSU’s top brass. TransparencyUTMSU highlights what is integral to a functioning democratic system: a critically engaged voice of reason that isn’t afraid to provoke dissent and call people out. It promotes the flow of information to the average student that cares about where their tuition money goes, namely down the drain of the UTMSU.
I have yet to understand the role of political parties at the UTMSU, as well as affiliated political clubs on this campus. There is also a lack of self-oversight and critical engagement with what we find, although The Medium and TransparencyUTMSU may be able to cover this task if the former took itself and its journalistic task more seriously. Part of this issue, I deem, is that students are writing articles just for the purpose of trying to build their writing portfolios or gear up for journalism school. This is fine. But moving forward, as students, we must do better at engaging with student politics and political ideas in general: not just for building our portfolios or resume, but for each other’s sake.
