#Dontourage: A Discussion with Trinity’s Dons

They had to see it coming. On the minds of students and faculty alike for the past month and a half, a question for the Trinity Dons on the CUPE 3902 strike was inevitable.

After I posed my question, those in the room glanced furtively at one another. Nervous laughter erupted, as did a wave of groans and rolled eyes. I wondered if I should have stuck to my questions on their favourite hobbies.

“Igor – you want to start off on this one?” asked Dave DeMarco, Trinity’s resident Physics and Math Don.

Promising to avoid a political rant – to the great amusement of the rest of his peers – Igor Shoikhedbrod began to speak, delivering his words with the cool efficiency of someone who knows exactly what they mean to say.

“In return to this question, I pose a question to you: what is the likelihood we will go back to work when the administration isn’t even willing to work with [our previous] strategic, conciliatory offer? I don’t think it’s going to be resolved anytime soon, and that’s putting your futures at stake, as well as ours.”

At the time of our interview, the members of CUPE 3902 were in the process of voting on an agreement. To the chagrin of many, it ultimately failed to pass, lengthening both the strike and student frustrations. As I write this, a settlement has just been reached. To the relief of many students, the strike is over. Still, its lingering repercussions remain to be seen.

Asking the opinions of those directly involved in the strike was sure to elicit strong responses. However, in opening the conversation to include values, opinions, and personal experiences, a path was paved for a broader discussion about the university itself, Canadian protest culture, the value of a Humanities degree, and - of course - Beyoncé.

Trinity is unique among the colleges at U of T for the academic support provided by its community of resident Dons. As students themselves – many of whom are pursuing a graduate degree or PhD – the Dons easily recall what life was like as an undergraduate, and are available for tutoring, academic counselling, and general support. More than that, they are woven into the fabric of Trinity life.

Easily visible at high tables, college events, and on the wall of Trinity proper as one walks from Whit to Strachan, the presence of the Dons reinforces Trinity’s reputation for being different from the other colleges. The Dons themselves are intimately aware of this. When asked about his favourite Trinity memory, Senior Don Chris Pugh noted, “I think for me it was working on the committee to create a new alcohol policy, back when Melissa Beauregard was a Head. She and I are both Americans, and she was one of the first ones to help me understand how Trinity was different from other places. Being here for Deports reinforced this.”

Certainly, traditions at Trinity seem to have dominated student debate this year. While the verdict is out on the continued relevance of customs that may be exclusionary, the general consensus among the Dons is one of detachment - a feeling that Dave defined as “the ebb and flow of involvement and non-involvement.”

Chris echoed Dave’s point on the conscious uncoupling – to quote Gwyneth Paltrow – of the presence and non-presence of Dons at certain events, noting, “We don’t really play a role during Deports. We actually just kind of pretend it doesn’t happen.”

While this may be the case with many other events – especially those that feature ubiquitous underage drinking – the Dons’ contribution to student life is generally more nuanced, often extending into realms beyond the academic. The Dons’ participation in community policies, including those related to alcohol, equity, and mental health, bridges the gap between the educational and social aspects of their jobs. So do the regular events they plan for their student neighbours, many of which feature snacks or a movie. Indeed, the Dons’ as individuals embedded in student life, sharing spaces with hundreds of undergraduates, blurs the lines between their roles as academic advisors and their place in the community as mentors and friends.

Ian Garner, our resident British expat, Russian language enthusiast, and Political Science Don, summed up this concept nicely. “There are a lot of things that students come to us dealing with that the university itself doesn’t address. What I like to tell them is that it doesn’t really matter how smart you are or how hard you work, because there’s still a lot of crazy stuff you need to work out in your life that is wrapped together with the academic side of things. You’re at university and you’re trying to figure out how to both succeed and how to be an adult. It’s rapid development. Your self-worth is not reflected in your marks on an essay.”

At this, Dave began to chuckle. “Where were you when I was an undergrad?” he asked.

The visible friendship between the Dons is an aspect of their presence that few students may have witnessed firsthand. Whether by way of affable teasing or general amusement at my initial inability to distinguish between Dave and Dan or Payam and Marlee, it’s clear that the group operates as an eclectic family of sorts, bound by their roles as Dons, their lives as students, and through their affiliation with Trinity College.

When asked how we compare to other universities, Erin Gleeson, a Life Sciences Don who had previously worked as a Don at Laurier, stated, “It’s hard to compare the two, since Laurier is set up completely differently. There, my focus was on helping students transition from high school to university. The academic aspect of the job here is definitely the biggest change.”

Often asked for advice on pursuing a second degree, it is safe to say that most Dons agree in their approach to education and are happy to share this view with students.

“The first thing I would ask [if a student is pursuing graduate studies] is why,” said Andrew Wang, a second year Law student and the resident Economics and Philosophy Don. “If they don’t give me a good answer – and even if they do – I always suggest taking some time off between degrees.”

At this, almost everyone nodded. While nearly all I have talked to – from professors to department heads – about pursuing a graduate degree has agreed that time is often a student’s best friend, there seems to be a cultural expectation in Canada that a Bachelor’s degree is insufficient. Whether or not this is the case, the desire for higher education works in tandem with the perception that it is a student’s responsibility to cram their learning in a short amount of time.

In response to this idea, Andrew continued, “You can really like what you do, but at the tipping point of your career, you really regret not taking time off. There is always time to do these things. The last thing you should do is pick a money and time-heavy investment right away when you’re not sure it’s what you want to do.”

Ian – who was fast becoming the philosopher of the group – elaborated on this point. “It’s such a big decision, both in terms of time and finances. There is truly no pressure to know what you need to do and have to do. People get wrapped into this culture of being afraid of making the wrong decision, of thinking ‘I have to decide now and do this and this and this’ … but the truth is that life is beautifully unpredictable.”

While giving advice may come naturally to the Dons, Ian’s sentiment is one to keep in mind – especially for those who may be working towards a Humanities degree. When asked about the utility of such an option, Chris visibly bristled. Again, I wondered if I had unknowingly opened up Pandora’s box.

In response to my query, Marlee Rubel, an English and Literary Studies Don, was quick to remind me that the value of a Humanities degree is often in the versatility it provides: for example, while she pursued a degree in Cultural Studies at McGill during her undergrad, she is currently working towards a Masters of Counselling.

“Still, it set me up with the best foundation for what I’m doing now, and enabled me to enter my next degree with a critical lens,” she said.

Both Chris and Marlee emphasized that a degree in the Humanities most certainly does not directly translate into a job. However, in considering its utility, Chris noted, “I have resistance with this question as it infers that degrees have to have take-away benefits or utility that I can point to. This is a very capitalist idea, because it forces one to quantify and make their discipline exchangeable. Humanities as a whole is an extremely valuable discipline – it is the lens that reminds us that corporatization is an issue, and that equity is an issue. These are all the kinds of things that the humanities takes under its belt.”

He continued, “Will I be able to find a job with this degree? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that my degree isn’t useful, and that I have a useful voice. And I certainly hope that some of my students – that aren’t right now being taught by me – use the things they’ve learned to focus on the questions that we’ve talked about tonight.”

And so, we had come full circle and were back on the topic of the strike. While many of the Dons are striking TAs, there were also those unaffiliated with CUPE 3902 who chose to speak. Payam Zarin, a Life Sciences Don, was one of them.

“Even though the TA strike doesn’t directly affect me, I do feel strongly about it. A lot of students don’t realize how much this affects them. The undergrads are the ones who will be in the system in the next few years. They are the ones who need better living conditions in order to survive on their own and avoid accruing more debt. It’s not just the TAs – it’s the whole culture that has to change. We get a lot of undergrads who come to our lab and they say: ‘Oh, I’ll volunteer and I’ll work for free.’ I am wholly against that. If you want to learn something, shadow someone for a couple of days, but don’t spend three months working for free thinking that this is okay. This is not okay.”

Indeed, the increasingly corporatist nature of both university and life beyond it was a hot topic of our discussion. Speaking to this, Igor, Trinity’s Community Outreach Don, stated, “In our tendency to rely on private sources of funding, it seems that we have forgotten that U of T is a publicly funded university. I think it should remain this way for the betterment of the students and those who work for the students. The corporatization of the university is part of a broader idea that privatising things is a better way of sustaining institutions, public institutions in particular.”

The idea that what is happening at our university is a symptom of larger societal changes is not a new or radical one, as Chris noted. “The CUPE strike is part of a larger problem. In my opinion, education should be a right. Tuitions have been consistently rising. Undergraduates can no longer exist at this university and live. Most of your faculty members are sessional contract employees who are barely making a living wage, and are overworking themselves to do so. The university as a whole is no longer an equitable, accessible environment. I would like to see this be, one, part of a larger discussion of changing things, and two, as a member of a larger community, see the students that I have seen be here for four years start to really look at their environment and ask questions about it.”

However, when asked about the general sentiment of students towards the strike – and to protests in general – Ian was quick to dismiss our protest culture (or lack thereof) as “depressing.”

“All over university, it’s like we are willing to take things lying down. If something has been poorly marked, most students will just accept it. This is not the way that university should be. If I was an international student [paying international student fees] I would be furious with some of the classes – like that POL101 class with thousands of students. It’s ludicrous.”

While I can hardly imagine arguing a mark when I was in First Year, Ian makes a salient point. As students, our preconceived ideas about the world are constantly being challenged – by professors, our peers, and our daily confrontations with adulthood. Amidst the stress of meeting deadlines, studying for exams, and worrying about where our next degree might take us, we would do well to remember that we are not alone. Trinity’s team of Dons provides an invaluable resource for undergrads, both academically and beyond. More than that, they are generally pretty interesting to get to know. If you need proof, just ask Andrew about Blue Ivy.