TST Graduate Students' Association (TGSA)

Hi all, I hope this post finds you well. 

Thank you to those who attended our Graduate Student Town Hall last Friday with Angela Treglia, Director of the University of Toronto Sexual Awareness and Prevention Centre. For those who were not able to attend, Angela has kindly offered to share her slideshow with everyone and I will send that out as soon as I receive it.

In the meantime, check out this video to better acquaint yourselves with the centre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVlgCtEE9vw&feature=emb_title. Furthermore, here is some important information from Angela’s presentation: 

• The centre is open to all conjoint and non-conjoint students at the Toronto School of theology; and you do not need to make a formal report to access their services, the centre will accommodate individual needs without reporting. Whether or not you decide to file a formal report is your choice and your choice only. 
• As a result of COVID-19, operations are now remote via Zoom, phone or email. If you do call the centre directly, your call will be sent to voicemail but do not be alarmed! Angela assured us that the centre will call back that day. Also, there is currently no waitlist to book an appointment. 
• It is important to note that the Sexual Awareness and Prevention Centre is NOT a crisis centre, they do not offer counselling directly. They offer support by connecting individuals to the right resources, helping facilitate the reporting process if you chose to file a formal report, and offer educational services. 
  • For example, if you need accommodation quickly (i.e. needing to drop a class) they will make this accommodation happen without a report. 
  • Although the centre does not offer crisis counselling directly, they will put you in contact with reputable crisis centres in the city of Toronto and/or in the province. 

If you or anyone you know has experienced sexual assault, violence, or harassment please reach out to the Sexual Awareness and Prevention Centre at the University of Toronto. You may also reach out to your TGSA College Representative if you feel more comfortable doing so and they can assist you in contacting the centre. 

In the second part of the town hall, we met TST’s very own Victoria James and Jennifer Bardeggia. Victoria is the new Assistant Registrar and Coordinator of Institutional Research and Jen is the Academic Office Assistant who has been at TST for many years. Victoria and Jen are the faces behind the GCTS email and they have been working diligently to attend to all of your messages. If you do not receive a response, please feel free to send them a reminder. 

Have a wonderful rest of the week! 

Our November event is typically geared towards mental health and this year, TGSA will be hosting a virtual yoga and wellness workshop for all students wanting to destress from the craziness of school and life. It will take place on Friday, November 20th from 1:00 to 2:00 PM. Stay tuned for a Zoom link.

Looking forward to seeing you all Friday!

Ps. This is a beginners class, no experience necessary! You will need a water bottle, towel and yoga mat if you have one. Also feel free to keep your Zoom camera off if that would make you more comfortable.

Our wonderful TST librarians are hosting Q&A library sessions on Friday mornings from 11 AM to 12 PM from November 6th to December 4th. Students are able to ask questions related to their libraries and their resources!

Here are some more details:

As we head into reading week, TGSA would like to invite all of you to our first-ever virtual “mixer” this Friday, October 23 at 6:00 pm  — feel free to bring your own beverages and snacks! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Sam Needham at samuel.needham@mail.utoronto.ca. Here are the Zoom details: 

• Topic: TGSA Mixer!
• Time: Oct 23, 2020 06:00 PM America/Toronto
• Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94568562782
• Meeting ID: 945 6856 2782

We would also like to invite everyone to our annual graduate student conference, “What Matters? On Value and Valuing.” This event will be hosted via Zoom on Friday, October 30th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. It will feature presentations from graduate students from across North America and a keynote address from Dr. Connor Wood of the Centre of Mind and Culture. 

Attached is a draft schedule for the conference which also includes the Zoom link for the event! If you have any questions, please reach out to our VP Conference, Nathan Williams at nathanbradford.williams@mail.utoronto.ca. 

Also, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share this information to any graduate students and faculty that may be interested. The conference is free and open to all. Attendees may RSVP by responding to the Facebook event or by emailing TGSAConferences@gmail.com. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fjFWfhDPu5gFvu7Eif7p6ltBtpgI4S-1mvIjomOirEo/edit?fbclid=IwAR0_TXZ3WE1jmWLHIiFa9A631Qk_SwBlXvCea4g3zaVkD3QBPyQQhqDkM-0.

We look forward to seeing everyone at both the mixer and conference! 

Hi everyone!

I wanted to let you all know that you have the possibility of opting out of UHIP fees for the fall if you choose to do so. Please visit http://www.aseq.ca/rte/en/IHaveAPlan_UTSU_ChangeofCoverage_OptOuts_HowtoOptOut for more information on the process. In short, you have to demonstrate that you have healthcare coverage that’s similar to the UTSU plan, so you need more than “primary health-care coverage” to opt out. Furthermore, I’m attaching a pdf below of everything you need to know about our UTSU health and dental plan for 2020-2021. 

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at tgsa@utoronto.ca or you can chat with the UTSU Help Desk which is available through their website — it’s open from  9:30am – 6:00pm, Monday to Friday. 

Hi all,

We are asking TGSA members, in particular PhD students, to sign this petition for tuition fee exemption. In light of COVID concerns, TGSA will be asking for a semester of tuition exemption, should you extend 4 years of your program. In order to make this a feasible ask, we need significant support from the student body, so please consider signing!

https://www.change.org/p/tst-phd-students-tuition-fee-exemption?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=3ed73fb0-fd01-11ea-89ab-554f5cb93c6a

By signing this petition, you represent your support that a tuition fee exemption be applied to one semester of your conjoint PhD program at TST. In short, you will be supporting the motion that your TGSA (Toronto Graduate Student Association) representatives wish to bring to TST officials on your behalf. It is a motion for a tuition fee exemption in light of COVID-19, that the seven TST member colleges allow one term without tuition to any TST PhD student currently enrolled who, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, has found themselves delayed in their program. In recognition of the fact that this exemption was originally intended for current PhD students in the last semester of their program, we are now asking that this tuition exemption fee be applied to the final semester of any PhD student’s program, should the student exceed four years.