I have sat in the Innis College lobby for multiple hours a day, several days a week, trying to write this article. I have failed every time. Maybe I am trying to argue that loitering is an art form because I have spent so much of my time doing it, and this is my only cope. However, I think of Maria Abramović and her performance art. Sitting at a table for multiple hours, letting anyone sit at her table to do whatever. I have quite literally done exactly this for 10-12 hours at a time at the lobby. In fact, I am not the only person who does this. There’s an entire community of us out there.

Let me segue into what I really want to argue for: loitering as the key to finding community. It’s an interesting thing, having to “find it,” especially since the way our social lives are organized around the university, you’d think you’d already have it; it’s either the people in your college, people from your program, or maybe people from the student group you joined. But yet, the thing I always hear is that there is no sense of community at St. George. To be fair, this social issue of belonging (or lack thereof) stemming from individualism is not solely a U of T phenomenon. There has been a disappearance of third spaces from the public, which has contributed to the bleakness of daily life. But for most students, your life revolves around your school, so on a logistical level, students shouldn’t be suffering at the same level as the general public. While schools are considered a second space, they do offer plentiful third spaces such as student lounges, food halls, and, dare I even suggest, lobbies. And yet, we are still suffering.

The issue is that our school is too big. Sure, we have the college system that divides us up, giving us a “home base” (I have quite literally only ever been a commuter, so this was meaningless to me), but even then, if your program is not under your college, you’ll barely be around. So then I suppose you will eventually find community in your program. And yet, you never do. I have jumped around, major to major, while my friends have stayed in their respective programs, but the issue we all agree on is that there is no centralized location for many programs: it’s scattered around campus. 

The same is true for student groups. Last year, I was in many Victoria College-related clubs, but many events were scattered geographically, and since I had no classes near VC, I’d always be in a rush to leave after meetings. I have made long-lasting friendships in spite of this, but having 2-3 friends coming off a larger team is not the same as having a community. 

With a big campus in a busy city, it only makes sense for everyone to be in a rush, never being able to catch someone in one spot for too long. But maybe loitering is the key to reviving third spaces: seeing familiar faces at designated times weekly is bound to start up something. This is where the Cinema Studies Program and Student Union differ. Since the majority of the classes in the program are in Innis, most of our events are in the building as well. The problem of rushing and empty third spaces becomes resolved. CINSSU’s meetings this school year were wedged between two classes of mine, so there were many hours to loiter with everyone. These were the beginnings of community, just sitting in the lobby or second-floor seating area of Innis, doing nothing. Talking to familiar faces from the meetings instead of having to run to our next class, and then finishing the day with a screening from WTF or FFF. 

This community, in particular, is not just exclusive to CINSSU members. That’s the advantage of having a diverse range of events, from socials to screenings, in the same location you take classes in: you can loiter all day long and meet new people who have been there all along. Sitting in a lobby day after day, you will come across the same people, and slowly, you’ll notice yourself and others lingering a bit longer. 

Loitering works. While the circumstances were perfect for Cinema Studies students since everyone is stuck in one building, community cannot just be handed to you. You have to put yourself out there as well, linger for a little longer after class, and go to those events that a club is putting on. I’m guilty of not putting in the work myself: last year, I was in a tutorial when I recognized a face from a CINSSU meeting. Out of convenience, I asked her to be my partner for a short film for class, but we would never talk outside of class and CINSSU meetings–when our short film was screened in class, I didn’t even sit next to her. Ava Derro, if you are reading this, I am sorry. However, I think I should be absolved of my sins as I join her in the lobby, loitering quite frequently now.

I keep mentioning how small Innis is, but as you might know, Innis is getting a makeover: a commuter lounge, a rooftop lounge, an outdoor terrace, and they are even bringing back the cafe! As someone in their fourth and final year, I did and still do feel a little distraught with the fact that all of this will only come to fruition immediately after I am gone. But upon reflection, the lobby being the only third space Innis College had to offer was part of the reason why community was able to manifest the way it did, which is why I am grateful to have been subjected to the construction. That being said, the community will not die because of the Innis expansion. Once a community is formed, it can only flourish and grow, especially now with the new student spaces being built.

It is an innate feeling to yearn for community, and I can now firmly state that community does exist in Cinema Studies at a time when social isolation rates are rising, and participation in civic life and community groups is falling. These problems, while bigger than us to be able to solve, can still be resisted. The first step is to put yourself out there and LOITER.