2020-2021 ASSU Awards
Applications are now open for our 2020-2021 ASSU Awards.
Winter Break Office Hours
It may not feel like it yet, but the winter break is fast approaching.
Elena IourtaevaStatement from the ASSU Executive Nov 3rd 2020
We, at the Arts and Science Students’ Union, are absolutely heartbroken to learn of the death of a fellow student at the Chestnut Residence last night. As we, alongside the greater campus community, continue to feel the impacts of this tragedy, our hearts go out to the student’s family, friends, and loved ones.
Call for Nominations: ASSU Executive By-Elections
Nominations are now open to fill one Executive positions on the Arts and Science Students’ Union!
The ASSU Executive represents the academic concerns for over 26,000 full-time Arts & Science students on the St. George campus. Their responsibilities include, but are not limited to – holding weekly office hours, attending Executive meetings every few weeks, reporting at ASSU Council Meetings, sitting on various ASSU committees, representing ASSU at Faculty meetings, working with and helping Course Unions, working on ASSU projects and any other academic concerns affecting A&S students that might come up during the year.
Arbor Journal Call for Submissions
The Arbor Journal of Undergraduate Research is the leading undergraduate journal for the arts and science, seeking to publish, highlight, and celebrate the best of undergraduate arts and science research at the University of Toronto.
Arbor is now accepting submissions for its second edition! If you are interested in submitting an article for consideration, the deadline for submissions is Friday, October 9th at 11:59pm.
Virtual Undergraduate Research Conference: Call for Selections Committee Applications
The fourth annual (and first ever virtual) Undergraduate Research Conference is coming in early 2021 and we are looking for students to join our Selections Committee!
The Selections Committee for the virtual 2021 Undergraduate Research Conference will be made up of Faculty and students, divided into sub-committees for each of the three Arts & Science streams: Sciences, Humanities & Social Sciences. Each committee will consist of 3 students and 1 faculty professor. We are looking for a total of 9 students to be a part of these committees, and first priority will be given to undergraduate Arts & Science Students. The Committee’s main responsibility will be to review and evaluate abstract submissions related to their stream. We will meet online in October and November, for a total of approximately 5 online meetings.
TO APPLY:
Please fill out the form here: https://forms.gle/Wn6nm1Rxdz8dPhKg7
As well, please send your CV to assuconference@gmail.com, with the subject line “Selections Committee Application – Your Name.”
DEADLINE: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 11:59 p.m. EST
If you have any questions, please email us at assuconference@gmail.com.
Arbor Journal 2020-2021: Call For Editors
The Arbor Journal of Undergraduate Research is the leading student-run academic journal for the arts and science, seeking to publish, highlight, and celebrate the best of undergraduate arts and science research at the University of Toronto.
Following its inception by the Arts and Science Students’ Union at the University of Toronto, Arbor has set out to showcase the research talent of the university’s undergraduate arts and science students through an annual issue featuring scholarship from the social sciences, humanities, and sciences (life and physical).
We are currently looking to establish an Editorial Board for volume two of Arbor. The Editorial Board of Arbor offers undergraduate students the opportunity to participate in the creation, design, and editorial supervision of an academic journal. We welcome all undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Science who are interested in getting involved with undergraduate scholarship to apply!
We are currently looking to fill the following positions:
Managing Editors (3)
Associate Editors (9)
Design Editors (1)
Editor positions are stream-specific to the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences. The roles and responsibilities of each position can be found on the application form.
Apply now: https://forms.gle/CmgYR7J2e9kmZgGu5
The deadline for all applicants is Friday, September 18th at 11:59pm.
ASSU Fall 2020 Office Hours
As classes begin this week the ASSU Office in Sid Smith will be reopening to serve those students who are on campus. Our office will have reduced hours to start the term, but we will be evaluating them as the month goes on.
ASSU Letter to President Gertler re: Cancellation of Spring Convocation
RE: Spring 2020 Convocation Ceremonies
Dear President Meric Gertler,
We are writing with respect to the University’s decision to cancel the Spring 2020 Convocation ceremonies.
Many students have understood this decision as equivalent to there being no future ceremonies held for this graduating class. If this is in fact the case, we simply cannot express how disappointed we are with this judgement.
Students have waited years for this moment. Their parents have waited years. Generations of family members – grandparents, great-grandparents – will all miss the literal once in a lifetime moment to see their loved ones finally earn their degrees. Thousands of hours, hundreds of restless nights, and an unimaginable amount of stress and struggle have been overcome by students. We continue to come here and push ourselves beyond our physical and mental limits all in the hopes that one day, we will be able to walk across that stage.
The cancellation of Convocation signals the University’s inability to recognize just how much this moment really means to students. This decision is disheartening, short sighted, and inconsiderate. Convocation is more than just an event, and it most certainly cannot be replaced by alternatives such as a reception. One student expressed her grief at the thought of having to explain to her immigrant parents, who sacrificed so much to see her succeed, that they will never get to witness this day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of students share similar stories. Students who are the first to graduate within their families will not be able to see the pride on their families’ faces. Low-income, marginalized, immigrants, and international students – all who have had to go the extra mile to get to this moment – have had their hearts broken today. Many will struggle to find ways to break this news to their families. This is not the type of decision your students expected from the University of Toronto. You have stolen more than just a moment from these students today.
We call on you to recognize the severity of your decision. We are truly upset that this decision was even considered, and cannot imagine how the University will reconcile its relationship with students in the coming years in light of this. Every single student makes sacrifices to attend this institution. We pay tens of thousands of dollars in tuition, our mental health and well-being suffers, and some of us spend months away from those we love. We all deserve this moment. Our families deserve this moment. Our future children will value this moment. Bring back Convocation for your students.
Yours sincerely,
The ASSU Executive
c.c.: Cheryl Regehr, Vice-President and Provost
Sandy Welsh, Vice-Provost, Students
Melanie Woodin, Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science
ASSU Constituents