Students took over major intersections across downtown Toronto for charity, then gathered on the front and back campuses to party last Friday as part of SAC orientation day. Students from UTM and UTSC participated in Shinerama, shining shoes to raise money for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. While they were doing good, upper-year students and hundreds of froshies alike from U of T’s colleges and campuses convened at the St. George campus for the clubs fair, parade, and concert featuring bands Sloan and controller.controller.
First-year students of St. Michael’s College also participated in the fundraiser last Thursday.
At the fair, dozens of clubs tried to attract new members through discussions, flashy displays and a wide array of free nosh. At the Arts and Science Students Union (ASSU) table, volunteers spun cotton candy to keep frosh listening while they learned about the services the organization offers. “It’s important that the frosh know that university can be both fun and serious and that there are groups here to help them, like ASSU,” said ASSU executive Saswati Deb.
“I thought the fair was brilliant, because I’m from a small town and have never been exposed to this kind of diversity. It’s great to see everyone taking pride in their ethnicities and orientations,” first-year University College student Kathleen Letwin, a native of Brantford, Ontario, said of the various cultural and religious student groups also offering food and pamphlets to students.
In the afternoon, frosh gathered in front of Convocation Hall for the annual SAC parade around the city. SAC orientation coordinators kept to rigorous safety guidelines for this year’s parade after they received complaints about aggressive behaviour and harassment during the event last year. Coordinator Luke Stark explained that SAC asked all colleges and campuses to give their first-year students guidelines regarding behaviour and respect for others. “Last year, we had trouble with students throwing water and so we had the colleges tell their students not to bring water bottles to the parade.”
The restrictions did not rain on anyone’s parade. “The parade was really fun,” said UC first-year student and Toronto native Karleen Murrain, though she added that some aspects seemed inappropriate. “It was so ridiculous. We’re in Yorkville screaming vulgar cheers.”
The late afternoon concert on back campus, which featured Canadian bands Sloan and controller.controller, was not as well attended as the morning’s clubs fair. The audience only filled a third of back campus, but those students who attended were loud enough to make up for it. SAC started the evening with speeches about the Make Poverty History campaign, with which they partnered for frosh week and to which they had been encouraging students to donate. Frosh students who attended Friday’s festivities seemed to enjoy all the events. Alexandra Marshall, a first-year student at UC, gave it her vote: “I thought it was great to see what U of T has to offer.”
