Classics Students' Union

Does the idea of grad school bog you down? You’re not alone! Join CLASSU at the Alternatives to Academia Alumni workshop, where alums of the UofT Classics department who did not fall into the path of academia for their future occupations will present on their career paths, how Classics helps them succeed, and offer advice to those souls who fear or abhor the rigours of academia. You can find us at Lillian Massey 220 at 5pm on March 31st! Snacks will be provided. We hope to see you there!

CLASSU is hosting a screening of Disney’s Hercules on Tuesday, February 6th at 6:30pm. Join us at Victoria College’s Cat’s Eye for snacks and (out of tune) singing along as we all watch debatably the most mythologically inaccurate movie of all time!! See you there!

To celebrate the new school year, ClassU is hosting an Ancient Food Day at the Graduate Lounge in Lillian Massey! Stop by and sample some fun foods made with ancient Greek and Roman recipes, and mingle with members of your program! The event is open to all Classics students, so bring some friends and come hungry!

The 2022 Summer Senate is proud to announce new transparency measures for this upcoming year! Among these measures is the publishing of Senate Meeting Minutes, which may be viewed by all Classics students. All meeting minutes may be found here, as well as on the Senate page of this website.

CLASSU is holding our annual Spring Election on April 27th, 2022 and we are looking for a new President, Vice-President, and three eager senators to join our team!

Nominations are now open. Election nomination forms can be found below. Candidates are no longer required to fulfill the signature requirement. To run for Senate, simply fill out the nomination form with your personal information. Email this form alongside your ACORN schedule to classu.cro@gmail.com by midnight on April 26th.

Positions are open to any students taking at least ONE Department of Classics half-course (0.5 FCE) or more OR are enrolled in at least one Department Subject POSt in 2021-22. NOTE: you must be a full-time student (or paying the ASSU fee) in order to run. All elected senators will serve until April 2023.

Candidates are encouraged to send a brief one-and-a-half-minute video speech to introduce themselves and their platform to classicsstudentsunion@gmail.com. Please send a transcript of the video. Text speeches will also be accepted and circulated.

Elections for this year will be conducted entirely online at voting.utoronto.ca. The voting period will begin at midnight on April 27th and will continue until April 29th. However, this is not a full three-day voting period. The Presidential election will be conducted on April 27th, the Vice-Presidential on April 28th, and the Executive Member elections on April 29th. This is necessary per Section 7.7.2 of the CLASSU Constitution, which states that candidates are permitted to “run successively in the elections for President, Vice-President, and then Executive Member” should they not be elected.

Please email classu.cro@gmail.com or classicsstudentsunion@gmail.com for any questions or concerns. Information regarding election procedures can be found on our Constitution page, in Article VII.

We’re looking for Associate and Copy Editors for Volume VIII of our in-house research journal, Plebeian. This role is a valuable opportunity to hone your writing skills, build relationships with fellow Classicists, and gain insight into the world of academic publishing.

Associate Editor positions are open to all, but may be better suited for those who are in their Second Year or higher and have more writing experience. We recommend Copy Editor positions to those who are in their First Year of study and wish to get involved without too much editing responsibility.

There are 7 positions for the Associate Editor role, and the responsibilities include:
§  Reading and ranking of all paper submissions
§  Giving input on editorial decisions presented to the Editing Team
§  Editing two papers with a partnered Editing Team member
§  Meeting with the authors of the two assigned papers at least once
§  Observing deadlines for returning drafts to Submitters

There are 2 positions for the Copy Editor role, and the responsibilities include:
§  Reading and ranking of all paper submissions
§  Giving input on editorial decisions presented to the Editing Team
§  Reviewing papers to ensure that their citations and style meet the standard of Plebeian’s Style Guide
§  Observing deadlines for returning drafts to Submitters

The applications for Associate and Copy Editors are opened on October 25^th and will close on November 10^th.

They can be found under the “Plebeian” tab. Please send any questions you have to classu.plebeian@gmail.com. 

CLASSU is holding our annual Fall election online on Thursday, September 30th, and we are looking for 6 new senators to join our team!!

The nominations process is open now. Forms are linked below. Candidates are no longer required to fulfill the signature requirement. To run for Senate, simply fill out the form with your personal information. Email in this form alongside your ACORN schedule to classu.cro@gmail.com by 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 29th. Candidates that have successfully met this requirement will be contacted with further information about the elections process.

Candidates are encouraged to send a brief one to one and a half minute video speech to introduce themselves and their platform to classicsstudentsunion@gmail.com. Please send a transcript of the video. Text speeches will also be accepted and circulated.

If you have questions, please email us at classicsstudentsunion@gmail.com. Information regarding election procedures can be found on our Constitution page, in Article VII.

Positions are open to any students taking at least ONE Department of Classics half-course (0.5 FCE) or more or are enrolled in at least one Department Subject POSt, in 2020-21. This includes first years. NOTE: you must be a full-time student (or paying the ASSU fee) in order to run. All elected senators will serve until April 2021.

Once elected Senators will have the opportunity to run for one, but no more than one, of the following portfolio positions:

• Secretary
• First-Year Representative
• Second-Year Representative

More information on the positions can be found in the Constitution.

Please email classu.cro@gmail.com or classu@utoronto.ca for any questions or concerns.

Do you feel as though you possess the necessary editing and leadership skills to take on the role of Editor-in-Chief for Plebeian (Vol.VIII)? If so, apply for the 2021- 2022 year.

The EIC’s role includes:

• Oversight over the entire publication process of Plebeian
• Setting timelines for editor applications, paper submissions, and drafts
• Hiring Editors and running meetings with the Editing Team
• Reading and ranking of all paper submissions
• Checking over the quality of edits made by individual editing pairs to ensure proper quality
• Settling disputes, and, if necessary appointing replacements
• Design, layout, and formatting of the journal
• Delivery of the final product to the Senate
• Copy editing
• Promoting and advertising the calls for papers and editors in conjunction with the Senate

If you believe this to be a good fit for you, please fill out the application below and submit it to classu.plebeian@gmail.com by TUESDAY JUNE 1st, 2021 at 5:00 PM

Assembly of the Plebs 2021 will be hosted on March 19th, 2021 via Zoom! The event will begin at 10:20 am EDT, and end at 3 pm EDT. Join us at this link: bit.ly/plebs2021 on the day of for some incredibly interesting talks from our authors!

Schedule:

• 10:20 Opening Remarks
• 10:30 John Liao (he/him), Ἐπιθυμῶ κἂν τραύματος: Agency as Conceit in Philostratus’ Erotic Letters 
• 11:00 Angelli McGuigan (she/they), Finding Identity Through Sport
• 11:30 Erika Sakaguchi (she/her), Dido Exchanged: Compulsory Sexual Asymmetry in Vergil’s Aeneid
• 12:00 Lunch Break
• 1:00 Camille Richter (she/her), Shame and Sexual Allure in Roman Courtesans
• 1:30 Sheena Mckeever (she/her), A Metrical Analysis of Vergil’s Aeneid 1.268-73
• 2:00 Jordan Nemec (he/him), Signs of Cultural and Ethnic Diversity at the Serapeum of Alexandria
• 2:30 Closing Remarks

Paper submissions for Plebeian Volume VII are now open! Visit the Plebeian section of our website for more information. Papers must be submitted to classu.plebeian@gmail.com by January 20th, 2021.