The Future of Campus Life at UTSC

Virtual campus life may feel alien, but it is the same community.

BY: POLEN LIGHT

Artwork by Daniel Gomes // THE UNDERGROUND

Campus life, without a doubt, is one of the core aspects and draws of a university—and it’s about to vanish into the cloud. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused most universities to shut down nearly all of their physical spaces and move online. The lectures are now pre-recorded meetings or virtual classrooms and student gatherings are done via Zoom, Google Hangouts, and once in a blue moon, Skype. The transition from a physical university into a virtual one for the upcoming year was a tough but necessary decision that the University of Toronto administration took. The transition is being planned on the go, and no matter how qualified the administration is, in the face of an unexpected and sudden change that we’re going through, many aspects of a university are left as big question marks. 

Campus life is one of the big question marks. Without the physical space, university became an expensive version of Khan Academy where all the benefits of the physical space forfeited. The physical space organically generates interactions with the community. Leaving the campus? You are more than likely to go through the Meeting Place, Student Centre or BV atrium. On a normal day it is more than likely that you will encounter a club activity or run into the professor from another class on the way out. Waiting for office hours? One can start a chat with the person next in line that may become their next study buddy. Or to kill several hours between classes one might attend an event where food and socializing go hand in hand, usually five to ten minutes away from any classroom.

UTSC grounds during pandemic. Photo by Trevon Smith

Beyond providing friends and socialization campus life greatly contributes to one’s overall experience in university and future life. One could meet with their future business or romantic partner much easier. If one was having a difficult time with a class the person next to you probably had an idea. Many courses relied on lab and studio work where collaboration and exchange of ideas is of essence for developing one’s self. 

In the case of a virtual environment, all of these interactions are significantly reduced. Where physical space once created the environment for people to interact, in virtual space one has to take extra steps to create a fraction of the interactions.  It is near impossible to meet people in virtual waiting rooms or even virtual events. Approaching someone and starting a dialogue virtually is constrained in many ways. But even in the case of meeting someone in a virtual environment, it is hard to follow-up. There are no Tim Hortons to go, or another event to run into each other. And exchanging social media over Zoom with someone you had met five minutes ago with a seemingly creepy “hello” from someone whose face is blurred due to bad connection is just a hard reality to adjust to.

Empty Science Wing stairs. Photo by Trevon Smith

In addition to physical space disappearing, there are other challenges our campus life faces. UTSC specifically has two unique aspects that are about to change: international students and small campus size. International students greatly contribute to the diversity of campus; with an international friend one could learn a few words in a different language, gain new perspectives, and learn about different cultures firsthand. But due to the pandemic, most of them will now stay in their home country to reduce living costs.The other aspect, small campus size, offered a much close knit community between students, staff, and faculty in and out of the classroom. You can easily mingle with one another in the classroom, exchange notes. Many of the students probably didn’t need to request an appointment for office hours because of the size and accessibility of professors. But members of the campus will be no longer casually bumping into each other, or classrooms will no longer feel cozy. Nor will we be able to see the staff and faculty as often in student-led events.

Panagena event in Student Centre. Photo by Trevon Smith

However, this is not a dead end. Just like how every other aspect of university is adjusting in some way, so shall the campus life. The events, meetings, celebrations, and much more can be delivered virtually. While the method and content will differ, the reason for why the community gathers and the core spirit of gathering and sharing will still be there. In order to maintain community, campus life needs to adapt. The mandate to revive campus life in a virtual campus falls on the shoulders of all members of the campus, but most specifically, on students. The students not only compose most of the community or hold most gatherings, but also shape and steer the community. As students we must take initiative and put in a collective effort to ensure the time and effort we devote to university is diverse, memorable, and beneficial to our growth. 

In the past months, initial attempts to kickstart campus life have come from various university departments, the SCSU, and several major clubs. The Office of Student Experience and Wellbeing has started its first year communities program where first years are oriented into university and campus life via upper year mentor students. The Department of Arts, Culture, and Media has been holding bi-weekly ACM cafes where students, staff, and faculty drink coffee and talk in a non-academic and very casual environment. The ACM department has also been holding drop-in ukulele sessions for beginners. The SCSU has hosted a series of events and created Facebook groups for people to meet up.

Many clubs have started generating new content such as virtual town halls or interviews with professors. The virtual communities on Facebook Groups, Discord, and Reddit are also thriving.

The response to initial initiatives were mixed. The attendance is below the expected numbers. Virtually held events face different challenges. Event holders are constrained by software accessibility and limited to capability of platform used; attendees are subject to capability of their hardware and connection strength. And even when these issues are not present some students are not comfortable connecting via their house or engaging with others virtually. A portion of International students who went back home have difficulty participating in campus life due to time zone differences. The event organizers are also still learning how to deliver a good event virtually.

Furthermore the physically held events will have a minimal number of attendees, content restricted, and will most likely be held by university departments. These events will not be tailored to develop and contribute to campus life when university partially opens in fall, but rather it is an effort to keep campus life alive to an extent.

However, as students I believe we need to take a look at this situation from a different perspective. The new situation is as much a golden opportunity as a hindrance. Right now as a community we’re at a place where we can take risks and experiment with a greater ease. It is much easier to connect with many more and different people, the content we create can be delivered in better or different ways, and even new types of content can be created. The community has slightly diminished, but the remainder is a group of people who are invested in campus life and who’ll want to either support growth of virtual events or gatherings.

Scarborough Students Union should promote and fund initiatives that promote virtual interaction. More collaboration between different clubs will generate further interaction between their members. Additionally, the student societies can reach out to respective clubs in other universities to collaborate on local events that support students who left Toronto. Generating interactions will be more difficult, but it is vital for sustaining the campus life. 

We’re still the same students and the same community who share common university, common problems, and common interests. Thus we still possess the same community spirit we had before the pandemic. While we may be discouraged to virtually interact, going through personal problems or physically distant, we are capable of supporting, interacting with each other with no loss.

In essence, the community now has to be adopted to the new virtually connected world. To carry a community that was held so tightly by physical spaces to a virtual environment is a hero’s task. The path to bridging the gap lies in being simply a community, in a virtual environment. As the UTSC community we need to capitalize on our strengths—such as being a small and close knitted community— and creativity to take extra steps and efforts to be present together in the virtual environment. 

It is difficult to reshape our community that was dependent on events, but succeeding on this task would mean we have a diverse community with members who can raise their voices, share their ideas, and are willing to make connections —something we all need and yearn for in the new virtual world. 

The jury is still out on how much of the community we will be able to retain when fall semester begins, but as members we all have the opportunity and responsibility to contribute as much as we’re willing to bridge the virtual gap. The situation might look unpleasant, but with collective effort and the community spirit we as the UTSC campus can reshape and maintain the UTSC Campus life regardless of any challenges.