Students and professors at the University of Toronto scramble to meet deadlines as the Winter Semester winds down. Rushed classes and lengthened deadlines mean that instructors are trying to fill time in the remaining lectures. Dr. Goldschmidt, professor of POL387 (The Politics of Canada’s Provinces), announced in class that there would be a “guest lecturer” next week as a surprise.
Students were sorely disappointed, however, when they discovered that their "guest lecturer" was TA, Zoe Brown. The seventh year PhD student struggled to earn the students’ respect in class. “They kept referring to me by my first name, just like in tutorial,” Brown lamented to The Boundary. Students neglected to raise their hand, instead yelling out any questions they had to earn participation points.
Brown fumbled her notes and sweated profusely as she presented the lecture, which she threw together the night before. She could not be heard beyond the third row of seats in SS 1078, reports confirmed. “The guest lecture covered the intersection between national cod fishing policies and provincial laws in Newfoundland. It was so boring. Why would anyone waste years of their life studying that?” P.J. Beleskey, a student said. “I didn’t even know she was lecturing. I thought she was doing a bit where she kept moving her mouth but no words would come out,” said one student who requested to remain nameless.