0:09  
Hello, Ryerson, I'm Dania.

0:11  
I'm Ram.

0:12  
And I'm Sarah. Welcome to the Rye Report for Friday, November 1. Today we're talking about a disability study at Ryerson that has received federal funding, the effects of the opt out policy on the Eyeopener, some inaccuracies with Ryerson's self ID report, and a new unique podcast club on campus.

0:29  
A research project at Ryerson looking at early childhood disability has just received shared federal funding of $1.8 million dollars. It is one of the seven innovation projects in the GTA to receive it. The study is headed by Katherine Underwood who is an early childhood studies professor. Here's what Underwood says her team be focusing on next. 

0:49  
We're going to continue talking to these families each year and the children are getting older as we work with them. We are recruiting new families, so we've got younger children. But to continue to to meet with and engage with the families. We are planning a meeting next spring in Kirkland lake. The elders council who we work with, they're gonna host a meeting.

1:15  
Their research team includes students and researchers from a diverse set of fields. They look at how children with a disability and their families navigate through different services offered to them. The national study called the inclusive childhood service system started in 2014 and involves six other universities. The funding allows them to continue expanding into new regions, such as Yellowknife territories. It has also helped them set up a youth advisory committee made up of young people who identify as either disabled or deaf.

1:47  
The Eyeopener says they're happy with their 44.4% opt in rate despite uncertainties in their future. Last week, Ryerson released the official numbers for the Ontario government's new student choice initiative. This initiative allows students to opt out of certain ancillary fees as part of their tuition, which includes the Eyeopener. Last year in preparation for the cuts, the Eyeopener had already cut editor positions under the sports and media sections. Here's the Eye's arts and culture editor, Tyler Griffin on these position cuts.

2:17  
Kind of all over the place like I mean the big ones where we cut the second sports editor position and then we're down to one now. Which definitely like we we opted to two a few years ago and that sports is a really, really big thing to cover at Ryerson. So that definitely helped a lot with like our output of stories covering that community really, really well.

2:36  
The initiative has also cut into the salaries of managerial positions, adding uncertainty to the future of these positions. Several editors say despite the big cuts, they're at ease as the opt in percentage was higher than expected. The Eyeopener says they're still motivated to provide students opportunities to see the kind of stories they want.

2:55  
Ryerson's Diversity Self ID reports low Indigenous enrollment from 2014 to 2016 and 2018. Program Coordinator for Aboriginal Student Services Brian Norton says the numbers are out of date. Norton points out the reports most recent data is from 2018, leaving out a year and a half of new data. He also says many students self identify without understanding the context behind the question in the self ID report. It asks if students self identify as Indigenous originating from Canada, leaving out internationally Indigenous students. There are three different ways to identify your nationality, through the OUAC application, through OSAP and Ryerson self ID on Ramss. Norton says the numbers can be skewed if students identify on one form and not another. RSU's Vice President of Marketing Victoria Anderson Gardener believes more Indigenous faculty members would attract a higher enrollment rate. 

3:47  
I personally think if they had more like Indigenous faculty, I think that would attract like that would definitely attract me more like if Iwas still applying to the universities. If I heard that there was more Indigenous representation in terms of who would be teaching me, I would enjoy that a lot more. Like it would make me feel more comfortable coming into the spaces a lot more.

4:06  
There are all sorts of clubs on campus, but this one does things a little different to the average pub night. Third year RTA student Taylor Hopkins has created the not so secret society for storytellers. What started as a group of students coming together to create a project has now turned into a podcast that will be streamed on Apple Music, Spotify and other major streaming networks. The group will provide a platform for students who want to tell their stories as audio podcasts. They will also perform the stories to live audiences.

4:41  
Hopkins says she wants to create a community of people who are interested in passionate storytelling. The group is now working on taking any nonfiction pitches for their podcast and performances. Earlier this week, our own Ally Murray caught up with Hopkins to talk about what kind of pitches are looking for and why she chose audio as a way to tell these stories,

5:01  
But what kind of stories are you guys looking for? Like even for nonfiction fiction, like what?

5:06  
 I'm looking for nonfiction. That's something that I have found really fascinating. One of my favorite podcasts is called Risk and they're kind of tagline is true stories people never thought they'd dare to share. So in that kind of vein in the kind of vein of The Moth but like with a student focus, or the kind of personal stories that are sometimes told in This American Life. That's kind of what I'm looking to do and I think it's super powerful specifically through the podcast format because it feels so intimate like having someone talk right into your ear. 

5:43  
For the Rye Report, I'm Dania.

5:45  
I'm Ram.

5:47  
And I'm Sarah.