Hey, paper towels?! Waste reduction pilot program ends — UTSG

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

The waste reduction pilot program that removed paper towels from dispensers in bathrooms across campus has ended as of October. The Student Leadership Subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS) announced the pilot’s conclusion on their website and added that during the 2025–2026 academic year, the pilot’s “effectiveness, feasibility, impact, and inclusivity” will be analyzed, and recommendations for future implementation made. 

Slowly, paper towels are returning to campus bathrooms. Robarts Library and the Gerstein Science Information Center, hubs of student activity, are now fully restocked. The “hey, no paper towels?!?” signs have been removed from the dispensers, though their sticky residue remains. Dispensers in other buildings, like Sidney Smith and Ramsay Wright Laboratories, still remain empty. 

Temporary art installation appears on Front Campus — King’s College Circle

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

This week, Drift, an art installation by Lac Seul First Nation artist Michael Belmore, was set up on the lawn of King’s College Circle in front of the UC building. This installation, which comprises slats of connected wood that float above the ground on steel supports, uses the idea of a snow fence, “as a medium of communication and cooperation rather than a barrier or stopping force,” according to the piece’s description. Drift will be on display at Front Campus until March 2026, and is part of the Earthwork exhibition currently showing at the Art Museum’s U of T Art Center through December 20. 

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani elected New York City’s Mayor — Jackson Heights, Queens

Byline: Junia Alsinawi, Deputy News Editor

On November 4, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, beating independent candidate and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by nine points and almost 200,000 votes. The 34-year-old Mamdani won in every borough except Staten Island. 

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, campaigned on a platform of supporting middle and working-class New Yorkers, including a plan to create the city’s first universal childcare program, freezing the rent for over 1 million rent-stabilized tenants, and making city buses free. 

Mamdani also proposed a tax on the city’s wealthiest, and plans to increase the city’s corporate tax rate to help pay for his other policies. On his social media platform, US President Donald Trump threatened to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won, as well as revoke the city’s federal funding. In his victory speech, Mamdani addressed the president head-on, saying, “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”