years for - UBC Library - University of British Columbia

November 21, 2011 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XXIII
Seriously, you despicable jackasses SINCE 1918
THREE MORE
YEARS FOR
U
HARRIS
P3
THE UBYSSEY
RIM
RATTLING
WEEKEND
1
‘Birds whack Spartans
in basketball home
openers
Mits
Sumiya
Former UBC student,
interned Japanese-Canadian
P6
CLASS?
Algoma University looks
at moving to three-week
long classes.
“I always considered
myself a UBC
student. It’s a
great feeling.
It’s like
coming
home.”
P5
Micki Cowan
News Editor
After much hesitation and public criticism, UBC has decided to give interned
Japanese-Canadian students honourary
degrees—a decision which Mits Sumiya
says gives him closure on a dark incident
from 70 years ago.
“With the presentation of this honourary
degree, it feels like UBC has opened their
arms and said, ‘You are part of our alumni,
you’re welcome, come on in,’” said Sumiya,
who was interned at 18 and not allowed to
return to his studies at UBC. “It’s a great
feeling of belonging.”
The Senate decided they will present 76
Japanese-Canadian who were UBC students, including Sumiya, with the degrees
to recognize those who were interned and
unable to complete their studies at the
institution during WWII. This follows a
course of action that many other universities in North America have already taken.
Cont’d on P3
2 | Page 2 | 11.21.2011
What’s on
21 MON
This week, may we suggest...
UBC MUSIC>>
Our Campus
One on one with
the people who
make UBC
The Canadian karaoke champion
Catherine Guan
Staff Writer
UBC Composer’s concert: 12 pm @ Music Building
If you’re one of the first people picking up today’s paper, RUN to the music
building to catch some live works from UBC composers. Seriously, get
moving!
22 TUE
CiTR>>
24 THU
THEATRE >>
CiTR Shindig Semi finals: 9pm
@ The Railway Club
CiTR’s annual, months long
battle of the bands winds down
with performances by Sleuth,
Philoceraptor and Man Hands.
Check out the next big thing in
Vancouver music.
23 WED
GREEN >>
In Brief: A Little Creation
by Vanessa Imeson: 7:30 @
Freddy Wood
This MFA project uses large
scale puppets to tell a number
of Aboriginal Canadian creation
stories.
PARTY >>
World Vision Bright Lights:
8pm @ Buchanan MASS
World Vision is hosting a semiformal party at MASS to raise
money for CLICK, an organization
that works with disadvantaged
youth. Feel good about dressing
up and drinking beer.
U
Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event
and your best pitch to [email protected].
THE UBYSSEY
November 21, 2011, Volume XCIII, Issue XXII
EDITORIAL
Coordinating Editor
Justin McElroy
[email protected]
Managing Editor, Print
Jonny Wakefield
[email protected]
Managing Editor, Web
Arshy Mann
[email protected]
News Editors
Kalyeena Makortoff
& Micki Cowan
[email protected]
Art Director
Geoff Lister
[email protected]
Culture Editor
Ginny Monaco
Copy Editor
Karina Palmitesta
CONTACT
[email protected]
Business Office: Room 23
Editorial Office: Room 24
Student Union Building
6138 Student Union Blvd
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tel: 604.822.2301
web: www.ubyssey.ca
Video Editor
David Marino
[email protected]
Senior Web Writer
Andrew Bates
[email protected]
[email protected]
BUSINESS
[email protected]
Ad Sales
Ben Chen
[email protected]
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Jeff Blake
Senior Culture Writers
Taylor Loren &
Will Johnson
Features Editor
Brian Platt
Print Advertising:
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Indiana Joel
Business Manager
Fernie Pereira
Sports Editor
Drake Fenton
She was just a small town girl, livin’
in a lonely world.
An aspiring optometrist, a
Polynesian dancer and a die-hard
Gleek, Santos is a woman of many
talents. And she just added another
accolade to her reel of accomplishments—karaoke champion.
After completing her BSc in biology this past May, Santos entered
a local contest on a whim and went
on to win the Canadian Karaoke
Championships. In September,
she represented the country at the
World Karaoke Championships in
Ireland, finishing third.
A singer in a smoky room. A smell of
wine and cheap perfume.
A night for Burns Bog: 6:30pm
@ Buchanan MASS
A movie night and discussion
panel on the threatened bog in
North Delta. It’s important for
the health of the region that it
not be destroyed. Snacks will be
provided!
25 FRI
For most, singing, dancing and
optometry would seem like an odd
triple threat.
“Ever since I was young, I really wanted to go into optometry,”
said UBC alumnus Jerrica Santos.
“Concurrently, I’ve always been
doing music. I’ve been singing and
dancing since I was a little girl.”
[email protected]
[email protected]
Andrew Hood, Bryce Warnes,
Catherine Guan, David Elop,
Jon Chiang, Josh Curran, Will
McDonald, Tara Martellaro,
Virginie Menard, Scott
MacDonald, Anna Zoria,
Peter Wojnar, Tanner Bokor,
Dominic Lai, Mark-Andre
Gessaroli, Natalya Kautz, Kai
Jacobson, RJ Reid
LEGAL
The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of
British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The
Ubyssey Publications Society. We
are an autonomous, democratically
run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate.
Editorials are chosen and written
by the Ubyssey staff. They are the
expressed opinion of the staff, and
do not necessarily reflect the views
of The Ubyssey Publications Society
or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing
in The Ubyssey is the property of
The Ubyssey Publications Society.
Stories, opinions, photographs and
artwork contained herein cannot be
reproduced without the expressed,
written permission of The Ubyssey
Publications Society.
The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press
(CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles.
Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your
phone number, student number and
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that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement
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the impact of the ad.
“It was really exhilarating. I
couldn’t believe it. A big world
competition with 46 singers from
25 different countries,” she said,
still reeling from her unexpected
success.
She had never heard of the
World Karaoke Championships
before this summer. “One of my
singing mates at the Metropolis
Glee Club…he kind of started in
this local competition, just a local
bar, you know how karaoke kind
of is,” Santos recalled. “He encouraged me to come out and try it, so I
thought, you know, why not?”
Some will win. Some will lose. Some
were born to sing the blues.
This isn’t the kind of Journeybutchering karaoke that most
are accustomed to. “It definitely
wasn’t a piece of cake,” she said
of the competition. “I probably
went to seven to ten rounds, to get
to where I was. There was a lot of
U
Write
Shoot
Edit
Code
Drink
COME BY THE UBYSSEY OFFICE
SUB 24, FOLLOW THE SIGNS
FACEBOOK
Santos takes karaoke a little more seriously than your average university student.
competition, 50 to 100 people each
time.”
Her win at the Canadian
competition led her to Killarney,
Ireland. “It was kind of like an
American Idol style competition,”
Santos explained. She made her
way through elimination rounds
to enter the top twenty, top ten,
top five, to finally place third in
the world.
More than the trophy, Santos
is grateful for the memories.
“What was amazing was, since it’s
karaoke…it was a lot of songs that
everybody knew and everybody
was kind of singing along.”
Oh, the movie never ends. It goes on
and on and on.
Her new status as a karaoke champion has changed her life in other
ways as well. While she has been
accepted to a number of American
graduate schools for optometry,
Santos is now seriously considering a future in music. Following
her success in Ireland, Santos was
signed to Vancouver record label
Get Right Music, and is now touring to promote her seven-track
debut, Dilemma. Her dream: “To
be an internationally recognized
R&B musician.” As any karaoke
regular can tell you, don’t stop
believin’. U
Jerrica Santos
Jerrica’s winning set list
“Hopelessly Devoted to You”
(Grease)
“I Turn to You” (Christina Aguilera)
“Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley)
“Who You Are” (Jesse J)
News
11.21.2011 |
3
Editors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan
ELECTIONS >>
Maria Harris wins second term as director for Electoral Area A
Kalyeena Makortoff
News Editor
The votes are in, and incumbent
Maria Harris will be serving a
second term as Electoral Area A
director.
“Winning was not easy,” said
Harris. “It was a hard campaign.”
Harris had 466 votes, 291 more
than runner-up Scott Andrews,
who secured 175 votes. Alexandria
Mitchell wasn’t far behind Andrews,
with 159 votes. Mischa Makortoff
had 114 and Colin Desjarlais 17.
Harris’s incumbency helped her
campaign. “I think people know me.
People know how I work. ”
Andrews said he would have done
some things differently if he were to
run again. “There are a lot of issues
relating to zoning and density that
appeal to University Neighbourhood
Association voters...I would have tried
to tap into the UNA a lot sooner.”
Andrews said he believes the
youth vote was split between him
and Mitchell.
“We were hitting the same demographic, strong environmental
platform and a student voice,” said
Andrews.
The total number of votes cast in
the district reached 931 this weekend, up nearly 200 from the last
election in 2008.
“Quite simply, a lot more people
are aware of Metro Vancouver than
there used to be, but it’s still not
enough. Turnout was not what I had
hoped,” said Harris.
Nonetheless, Harris said the voter
increase can be attributed to residents’ concerns about transit, land
use and development, which “all
really resurfaced in the public realm
in the last couple of months...so it
was actually a good time to engage
people.”
The first goal on Harris’s agenda
will be to secure a vote for Electoral
Area A on the Mayor’s TransLink
Council. However, this will require
a change in provincial legislation, which Harris said will mean
no movement can really be made
HONOURARY DEGREES >>
UBC to award 76 honourary degrees
Cont’d from P1
After hearing about similar cases at
other universities, Mary Kitagawa
of the Greater Vancouver Japanese
Canadian Students Association
(JCSA) made the degrees a priority
for their Human Rights Committee
for the past three years.
“It’s been a long struggle. It’s
been more or less trying to educate
people in power to understand the
issue and it’s taken this long,” said
Kitagawa.
Student senator Sean Heisler said
UBC has wanted to recognize the
students all along.
“UBC didn’t kick them out or
force them to withdraw, but there
is still a desire to do some personal
recognition for them.”
The degrees are part of a threepronged approach, which includes
educational initiatives. Kitagawa
said this component of Senate’s decision is crucial.
“That’s a very important component because I find a lot of people
in Canada do not know that such a
horrible event happened,” he said,
adding “It’s a lesson of injustice and
when democracy broke down and
something I feel everyone should
know.”
Associate history professor
Henry Yu is one of several faculty
and students who are proposing a
minor in Asian-Canadian studies.
The program would include existing
classes on Asian-Canadian history
and literature and two new classes.
“One [class] would be a broad
introduction, multi-disciplinary,
drawing on the strengths of faculty
and students from many different
departments,” said Yu. “The other
would be a 490 [class] and it would
really be about community-based
research,” he said.
until 2012 when the legislature
reconvenes.
Harris said she’s most looking forward to continuing to work on projects that she began in her first term.
However, Andrews had some
words of advice for Harris as she
continues into her second term.
“I think it’s high time to address
the democracy deficit and listen
to the strong pleas for governance
reform.
“She did very well, but she needs
to listen to other voices.” U
SUSTAINABILITY >>
Solar compactors
and parking meters
come to UBC
NATALYA KAUTZ/THE UBYSSEY
Kevin Zeng
Contributor
Japanese-Canadians were forced to leave UBC during WWII to forced interment camps in the BC interior.
PHOTO COURTESY UBC ARCHIVES
UBC’s libraries also plan to
digitize parts of their JapaneseCanadian collections. Yu said that
despite the negative publicity UBC
received as a result of their hesitation in giving out the degrees, it
ultimately helped the university to
engage with the community.
“To me, there’s a lot of ways in
which—as dark as an event it was 70
years ago—our marking it now gives
us a chance to actually do things in
a way that’s going to make the university better and our relationships
with Vancouver better.”
But according to Kitagawa, her
work is not quite over.
Heisler said the Senate will be
creating a new title of honourary
degree.
“It’s not taking the form of an
honourary doctorate or an honourary baccalaureate, because this situation doesn’t fit into either of those
two categories,” he said.
“It’s not being given for eminence
in a field, as honourary degrees typically are.”
The exact title has not been decided yet for the newly-created honour, but Kitagawa said she’s going to
keep pushing for a baccalaureate.
“I did request that they receive
an honourary baccelaureate degree
because any other name of a degree
other than that would to me indicate
a second-rate degree,” she said.
Sumiya was also uncertain about
the new title for the degree rather
than a baccelaureate. But he said
that he has always considered himself a UBC student, and an honourary degree would mean that UBC
was finally acknowledging him as
one too.
“There was always the feeling that was my home, but it never
really felt as welcoming as it does
now,” he said.
“I certainly hope that what they
decide will include that feeling.” U
UBC student sent to hospital
Friday afternoon
UBC profs make suggestions for
climate change aid
UBC to use donation for mental
health web portal
UBC researcher moves closer to
creating headache-free wine
At about 2pm Friday afternoon, an
ambulance was called to the SUB
main floor after a young woman
fainted by one of the kiosks across
from the Lucky Market.
According to a source on scene,
the woman in her early 20s fainted
and hit her head on the side of a
table.
Paramedics arrived within minutes, and by 2:30pm she was moved
to a stretcher and was placed in an
ambulance bound for Vancouver
General Hospital accompanied
by another student. According
to a source at the scene, she was
responding well and her vitals appeared to be fine.
Three professors at the University
of British Columbia are recommending how to manage the $100
billion annual commitment made
by the international community last
year.
The money is meant to help
the developing world respond to
climate change.
UBC professors Simon Donner,
Milind Kandlikar and Hisham Zerriffi
recommend guidelines which include instituting an “adaptive” regulatory system to close funding loopholes, employing a decentralized
network of third-party auditors and
adopting a scientific approach to
evaluating program effectiveness.
A $1 million donation to UBC from
Bell Canada will be used to develop
an interactive web portal for children
and young adults with mental health
issues, but it has raised concerns that
it may duplicate sites already built.
The website will offer information
about depression, anxiety and mood
disorders and will offer online, selfguided assessment tools and consultations between patients and experts
using Skype, Google Plus, chat
rooms, email and text messaging.
“Our hypothesis is that kids are
using the web and social media but
maybe not the right websites,” said
UBC psychiatry professor Michael
Krausz.
Through genetic manipulation, a
UBC research team has created a
yeast that stops the production of
headache-inducing allergens in wine.
The researchers have also found a
yeast that reduces the presence of a
carcinogen, and are close to finding
a way to reduce alcohol levels while
enhancing flavour and body.
Hennie van Vuuren, a South
African-born microbiologist,
holds the Eagles Chair in Food
Biotechnology at UBC, and is the
founding director of the university’s
Wine Research Centre. The focus of
van Vuuren’s research is the yeast
cell, one of wine’s essential building
blocks. U
News briefs
At UBC, even parking meters and
garbage cans have jumped on the
green train.
UBC campus has been redecorated by two new solar-powered
gadgets: LUKE parking meters
and Bigbelly garbage and recycling
units.
Four defunct meters around
campus have been replaced with
new LUKE solar-powered parking meters, said Tyler Stangier, the
facility and project manager with
UBC Access Control. The meters are manufactured by Digital
Payment Technology, a Vancouver
based company.
Since they rely on solar energy,
the new parking meters don’t require battery replacement.
The solar trash compactors,
manufactured by Bigbelly Solar, are
located at the bus loop.
The manufacturer claims their
compactors are designed to dramatically reduce waste collection,
deliver cleaner public space and
make for efficient and flexible
operations.
Waleed Giratalla, an engineer
with UBC Sustainability, spoke on
the environmental benefits.
“Garbage compaction is actually a common thing within our
buildings...What they do, though,
is essentially using grid electricity.
You are using mechanical power to
compress the garbage, which draws
from grid electricity,” he said.
“The new technology compresses
waste directly inside the bins using
electricity from the solar panels,
which essentially replaces the grid
power used for compression of the
waste… [This] reduces the amount
of operational staff and resources
you need to service the bin,” said
Waleed.
According to Stangier, more solar-powered units can be expected
to come to campus in the future. U
4 | News | 11.21.2011
ALUMNI >>
Fotheringham a boy from nowhere, by way of UBC
Famed political commentator talks about his hell-raising days on campus in his memoirs
Justin McElroy
Coordinating Editor
The engineers ran the campus.
One day, they threw me in a
car, took me to Georgia and
Granville and chained me to a
clock.
Allan Fotheringham
Before he was the most prominent political
writer in Canada, before he gave long-lasting
nicknames to every person and institution in
Canada, before he began his 27-year run as
the back page columnist at Maclean’s , Allan
Fotheringham made fun of engineers in The
Ubyssey.
“The engineers sort of ran the campus.
They were all big, tough, beer-drinking guys
and we hated them. So I wrote columns taking the mickey out of them,” he said.
“And one day, I was walking out the office
and six of these goons jumped me, threw me
in a car and took me to the corner of Georgia
and Granville, and chained me to a clock and
left me there. The cops had to come and cut
the chains down.
“I spent the rest of the three years at The
Ubyssey sticking it to the engineers.”
Fotheringham was in Vancouver last week
to promote his memoirs, Boy from Nowhere:
A Life in Ninety-One Countries. The celebrated writer, who graduated from UBC in 1954,
isn’t exactly from nowhere, but it’s close.
“I’m a kid from the little wee town of
Hearne, Saskatchewan,” he said. “It had a
blacksmith shop, a church, two grain elevators, 26 people. The town was so small, we
couldn’t afford a village idiot. Everyone had
to take turns.”
From Hearne, his family moved to
Chilliwack, which led Fotheringham to UBC,
where he took classes in the Faculty of Arts,
played for the junior varsity basketball team
and became head editor of The Ubyssey in
1953. The campus was smaller and more intimate then—enrollment the year he graduated
was 5500—and Fotheringham’s column,
titled “Campus Chaff,” was required reading.
In addition to all of this, Fotheringham
points out with pride that he received his
degree.
“When I was there, I was one of the few
Ubyssey editors who ever graduated. Usually,
the head editor just gave up for the year.
He knew he didn’t have time to go to class
because all of the work at the paper, and the
partying and the crazy things,” he said. “I
imagine it still happens.”
(Editor’s Note: Yup.)
Following graduation, Fotheringham got a
job with the Vancouver Sun , beginning a path
that would see him become an ever-present
figure in media for years. He used wit and
wordplay in his columns, and the names he
gave his targets became part of the national
dictionary. Vancouver became “Lotusland,”
the CBC became the “Mother Corp,” and the
Liberals became “the Natural Governing
Party.”
He tormented politicians of all stripes
too, including UBC’s only prime minister:
John Turner. The man who succeeded Pierre
Elliot Trudeau in 1984 was the big man on
campus in the late 40s, groomed for greatness even at that young age.
“He had everything going for him,” said
Fotheringham. “He was handsome, 100-yard
sprint champion in Canada, Rhodes scholar,
danced with Princess Margaret, and looked
to be someone who was definitely going to be
something in life.”
The two graduates became friends over
the years, even as Fotheringham tormented
him in print.
“He’s not happy with how I treated him
in previous books, because I told the truth,”
he said. “In the end, he was a Greek tragedy,
only lasting four months as prime minister.”
But the days of a national columnist having a degree of chumminess with leaders has
past.
“You could have drinks with cabinet ministers, and you weren’t told, ‘Now this is off
the record, this is on the record,’ because I
was smart enough, if he said something nasty, I had the brains not to put that in because
it would destroy the relationship,” he said.
“But now, you’ve got so many, you can’t
have five or six reporters with Stephen
Harper, and you’d never have a columnist
sitting down with a cabinet minister. They’re
surrounded by aids and PR agents and flacks
who write their speeches, so the relationship
has changed completely.
“It’s made [politics] more artificial, you
read speeches by a prime minister and you
know damn well they didn’t write a word of
it.”
Of course, as the book’s title makes clear,
Fotheringham didn’t spend all his time in
press galleries.
“I had five employers: Maclean’s, a sydincated column across the country, I was on
Front Page Challenge for ten years, I was on
the lecture circuit and I was writing books.
Five employers, five expense accounts,” he
said with a chuckle.
Fotheringham never forgot UBC, organizing an annual alumni event in Toronto with
Pierre Berton, also a Ubyssey alum, and former Turner. He received the Great Trekker
award in 1989. And his advice for students,
unsurprisingly, is to see the world.
“The best education you can get is travel.
And what I’ve learned by traveling to 91
countries is that I live in the best one.” U
National
11.21.2011 |
5
EDUCATION>>
ONTARIO>>
Ontario university considers offering students one course at a time
Universities probe
whether or not you
learned anything
‘Block’ plans could reduce class load
Lee Richardson
Lee Richardson
CUP Ontario Bureau Chief
CUP Ontario Bureau Chief
TORONTO (CUP)—Students at an
Ontario university might soon be
doing away with standard course
schedules.
Algoma University in Sault Ste.
Marie is considering switching to a
“block plan” that would allow students to study courses one at a time
consecutively, instead of the usual
four or five courses being studied at
the same time.
“You spend 15 hours per week on
a course, you do it for three weeks,
you do an exam and you’re done,
and you move onto another one,”
said Richard Myers, president of
Algoma University. “A block plan
simply reverses the prevailing mode
of doing things.”
An executive report on the
proposal was recently released by
the university, the result of eight
months of research into the idea of
switching from the typical “parallel
curriculum model” to a “sequential”
system.
A major factor in the report revolves around an expected higher
level of student engagement that
results from a short burst of heavier
learning. This concentration on a
certain subject is seen as easier to
manage than balancing workloads
of various courses simultaneously.
According to the “Block Plan Task
Force Final Report,” a more intensive workload delivered in a short
period results in students retaining what they learned better than if
they studied a subject over a longer
time. Classes would last for three to
PHOTO COURTESY OF 350.ORG
Students at Quest University ride in support of green movement 350. Quest is currently the only Canadian university to use a block system.
four hours a day, with students expected to spend another four to five
hours after class doing more work,
bringing an average academic week
in line with a 40-hour work week.
“Students have to work hard
because they’re doing a semester’s worth of work in three and a
half weeks,” said David Helfand,
president of Quest University in
Squamish. Currently, Quest is the
only Canadian university that uses a
block plan.
While the proposal drew greater
than average support from faculties
that are based on field-trip learning, like Science, there was opposition from departments that revolve
around reading, like humanities
and social science.
There are also concerns around
whether switching to a block plan
system—developed at Colorado
College in 1970—could alienate
some groups of students, including
part-time, special needs and mature
students.
“If you’re a part-time student just
whittling away at a degree, maybe
doing one course every semester,
[and] if you’re working during the
day, you might find it difficult to
do the course,” said Myers. “There
[are] always practical questions
when you look at a concept like
this.”
An academic planning committee at Algoma’s senate will now
analyze the report, with a decision
to be expected in early 2012. The
estimated cost of Algoma switching to a block plan is $2 million,
though Myers added that a change
to the entire university might not
be necessary.”
TORONTO (CUP)—A new report
attempts to define what a university
education actually gives students at
the end of their studies.
Released by the Council of
Ontario Universities (COU), the
report, Ensuring the Value of
University Degrees in Ontario,
highlights a system that determines
what students in bachelor, master’s
and PhD programs actually learn
and obtain over the course of their
university career, in terms of skills.
Some of the skills students are
expected to be taught include the
ability to “review, present and
interpret quantitative and qualitative information to develop lines of
argument” at the bachelor level.
“The report was to bring people up
to date...on what was happening in
terms of high quality standards,” said
COU President Bonnie Patterson.
Every eight years, every program at every Ontario university
is reviewed to ensure the “Quality
Assurance Framework” standards
are met, according to the report.
“There’s nothing wrong with
publishing a report like this, [but]
the question is if there’s something
happening because of it,” suggested
Barrie Bennett, curriculum and
teaching professor at the U of T, who
added that a lack of specific training
for instructors could make the goals
hard to reach.
“What they’re trying to do is get
a really good menu,” said Bennett.
“It’s one thing to have a beautiful
menu, but it’s another thing to have
a chef that can actually pull it off.”
QUEBEC >>
Riot police hit McGill after tuition protest
Jessica Lukawiecki and Erin Hudson
The McGill Daily
MONTREAL (CUP)—Over 100 riot
police stormed McGill campus on
the evening of the November 10
tuition fee protests, forcefully dispersing student demonstrators that
had gathered in front of the James
Administration building. Police used
pepper spray and tear gas against
demonstrators who were protesting
the allegedly violent tactics McGill
Security used against a group of
students who had occupied Principal
Heather Munroe-Blum’s office earlier that day.
Fourteen McGill students
claim they were assaulted by
McGill Security while they occupied the fifth floor of the James
Administration building Thursday
Timeline
March 17, 2011
Quebec’s new provincial budget
proposes 75 per cent tuition
hikes of $1625 over 5 years.
March 31, 2011
A one-day strike draws 2000 students from 11 institutions, leading
to 5 arrests.
November 10, 2011
Campuses across Quebec go
on strike and 30,000 students
march through Montréal to
Premier Jean Charest’s office.
afternoon. The sit-in coincided with
a 30,000 person-strong protest
against tuition hikes in the province.
At 4:05pm, a group of approximately 50 students entered McGill
campus after news of the occupation in James Admin reached the
demonstrators.
Reports of violence used against
the occupiers by McGill Security
reached those outside through
text messages and phone calls.
Demonstrators proceeded to form a
human chain around the building,
demanding entrance.
At roughly 4:50pm, four Service
de police de la Ville de Montréal
(SPVM) officers approached the
building from the Milton Gates
and entered James Administration
through a back door, where students
attempted to block them.
“When we heard the cops were
coming…we decided to delay them so
people inside could have time to negotiate,” said Attar Rifai, president of
the Association of McGill University
Support Employees.
Deputy Provost Morton
Mendelson confirmed that
he had been inside the James
Administration throughout the
demonstration.
“There were four police who came
to survey the situation. They at no
time interacted with the people upstairs,” he told The McGill Daily.
Mendelson said he did not know
who called the police. McGill
Security is “allowed to call the police
when they feel that there is a threat
McGill students protest the high cost of tution.
to people or a threat to property.
But I don’t know what triggered the
decision to do that.”
Moments after the 4 police officers arrived, around 20 students
entered through a side door for a
peaceful sit-in on the second floor,
with McGill Security supervising.
Just before 5pm, 20 police on
bicycles approached James Admin
from the Milton Gates. The officers
spoke with McGill Security but did
not take action immediately.
Officers lined up, using their
COURTESY OF FLICKR
bicycles as barricades against the
demonstrators. Some swung their
bikes at the protesters who were attempting to push police off campus.
A brief confrontation took place
between demonstrators and police.
Demonstrators pushed police back
while officers dodged items, including sticks and water bottles, thrown
by the crowd. The officers rode
away, to the cheering of students.
Shortly after 5pm, about 40 riot
police entered the campus through
the Milton Gates, beating their
shields with batons. Demonstrators
were pepper-sprayed after pushing
back against the police lines in front
of James Administration.
“The university did not call the
riot squad. I can tell you that, unequivocally,” Mendelson said. “I
know that the police who were here
called in [the riot squad].”
Jean-Pierre Brabant, a member of
the SPVM’s public relations team,
declined to answer questions as to
whether the riot police had authorization to enter McGill campus.
The next day, Munroe-Blum announced that McGill Dean of Law
Daniel Jutras has been asked to conduct an independent investigation of
the events of November 10. MunroeBlum said she was not on campus
to witness the events firsthand, and
emphasized that “the presence of
the riot squad, which dispersed the
protesters by its usual means, was
entirely directed by the Montréal
police service.”
“The presence of riot police on our
campus is shocking,” she wrote.
On November 11, students drafted
a letter to the administration, but
were barred from delivering it to
the James Administration building.
An open-air discussion and general
assembly on the issue was held on
the 14th and drew over 1000 students.
Munroe-Blum was present, but did
not speak.
—with files from Henry Gass, Queen
Arsem-O’Malley, Pierre Chauvin and
Anthony Lecossois
Sports
11.21.2011 |
6
Editor: Drake Fenton
BASKETBALL >>
T-Bird Standings
B-Ball (W) W L
East
Alberta
Regina
Calgary
Manitoba
Sask.
Winnipeg
Lethbridge
Brandon
6
5
4
3
2
2
2
0
0
0
2
3
3
4
4
6
3
4
4
2
2
0
1
2
2
4
4
4
West
UBC
Victoria
Fraser Valley
TWU
TRU
UBC- O
B-Ball (M) W L
East
Alberta
Sask.
Lethbridge
Regina
Brandon
Manitoba
Winnipeg
Calgary
4
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
4
4
4
4
6
4
5
2
2
0
0
0
1
4
4
4
West
CHRIS BORCHERT/THE UBYSSEY
After losing last year’s CIS semifinal to Trinity Western, UBC took sweet revenge this weekend. In a two game series, UBC slaughtered Trinity 104-75 on Thursday and 103-75 on Saturday.
UBC sends Trinity to the slaughterhouse
Rocking the Rim
CJ
Pentland
If there is one thing the UBC men’s
basketball team knows how to do,
it’s scoring.
During both games this past
week against the Trinity Western
University Spartans (2-4) at War
Memorial Gym, the Thunderbirds
(4-0) put up more than 100 points,
making it 3 straight games where
the team has broken the century
mark.
With the offence running on all
cylinders, TWU was left in the dust
as they could do little to stop UBC’s
up-tempo game. They were soundly
defeated 104-75 on Thursday night
and clobbered 103-75 on Saturday
by a UBC team who looked like
they were playing a game of pick-up
out in the school yard.
Once the T-Birds were able to
get their fast break going in the
second quarter on Saturday night,
they were able to break open a 21-21
game and never look back.
It’s that lethal fast break and
quick ball movement that is pivotal
to UBC’s success on offence. Once
fifth-year point guard Nathan Yu
hits top gear and starts running
circles around the opposition, open
shots and easy lay-ups are created.
I could not help but be reminded
of two-time NBA MVP and Victoria
native Steve Nash while watching
Yu run the floor. Yu’s combination of speed, accurate passing and
long-range shooting leads to large
point totals for not only him, but
his teammates.
The Thunderbirds, as a team,
also remind me a lot of the Phoenix
Suns teams that Nash played for
during his MVP days. A few years
ago the Suns were another highscoring team who relied heavily on
a successful fast break. However,
their defence was lacklustre at
times.
When the ‘Birds are on their game,
the opposition has a very tough time
creating good scoring opportunities
against them. But there have been a
few times when UBC has looked like
the Suns on defence, and other teams
have been able to go on short scoring
runs.
UBC has been lucky enough
to make up for these letdowns by
scoring a lot, but against stronger
opponents this may be a cause for
concern. The Phoenix Suns were able
to mask their lacklustre D in the regular season by scoring an enormous
amounts of points, but once they got
to the playoffs they were beaten by
more defensive minded teams.
Thankfully, UBC’s defence has
been quite strong for the most part.
The positives on this side of the ball
have outnumbered the negatives,
and I have reason to believe that the
‘Birds will only get tougher to score
on.
On Saturday night they forced
TWU into 29 turnovers and were
able to turn that into 44 points. Head
coach Kevin Hanson expressed
how creating those turnovers are
extremely important to how the offence plays.
“We really made our run when
we got some deflections, we got
some loose balls and we just scored
in transition,” said Hanson following the Saturday night game.
CHRIS BORCHERT/THE UBYSSEY
As long as that defence remains
tough, the fast break will be there.
And as long as the fast break is
there, the points will be on the
board.
The up-tempo style of playing
has been known to wear down
players as they are always running full speed, but UBC should be
an exception to this. Their bench,
though filled with youngsters,
has players who are playing like
starters. This enables Hanson to
always have fresh legs on the floor.
“I thought we did a very good
job of sharing the basketball.
Different guys contributed, and
it makes us very difficult (to play
against) if we have a lot of different guys producing for us,” said
Hanson.
Malcolm Williams has been the
most impressive player coming
off the bench, as he is playing well
beyond his years. He may be a true
freshman, but he has stepped up
his game to take on and dominate
much older players.
He’s been averaging close to 30
minutes a game and consistently
scoring in the double figures.
“I think he’s been one of our
most complete players this year,”
said Hanson.
Second-year Tommy Nixon and
first-year Nakai Luyken have also
provided sparks off the bench,
providing strong play on both ends
of the floor.
There is a good system in place
for the T-Birds. Once starters Yu,
Graham Bath, Kamar Burke, Balraj
Bains and Doug Plumb come off
the floor they are replaced by
younger guys who work just as
hard and put up the same impressive results.
UBC has found the winning
combination so far, and if they
keep playing this way they will
undoubtedly have yet another successful season.
If the ‘Birds avoid playing too
much like the Phoenix Suns, then
their regular season success will
translate into playoff success. U
Victoria
UBC
Fraser Valley
TRU
TWU
UBC- O
Game notes
57
The total amount of
points UBC outscored Trinity
by in the two-game series
5
The number of UBC
players with double digit
point totals in Saturday’s
game
2
The number of Trinity
players with double digit
point totals in Saturday’s
game
0
30
The number of quarters
UBC was outscored by Trinity
The number of
rebounds by UBC’s Kamar
Burke over both games
4
The number of blocks by
UBC’s Balraj Bains over both
games
2
The number of total
blocks Trinity had in both
games
75
UBC’s Tommy Nixon’s
field goal percentage this
season, the highest in the
Canada West
11.21.2011 | Sports | 7
HOCKEY >>
McCrae’s path, from small town to the Memorial Cup
Alison Mah
Contributor
Growing up as a boy with not much
else to do in the cold, flat lands of
Cochrane, Alberta, there is a certain inevitability that you will fall
into hockey. And yet, just as hopes
of playing in the NHL begin to take
hold and your veins begin to pump
with puck passion, your dreams of
playing professional hockey usually
end. Realistically, not many young
players will make it out of the
midget level and move on to play
in one of the three Canadian major
junior leagues.
Justin McCrae, now captain of
the UBC Thunderbirds hockey
team, took that next step out of
midget when he was only 15 years
old. He was uprooted from his
hometown in Cochrane to play
for the Saskatoon Blades and the
Spokane Chiefs in the WHL for the
next five years.
“I knew it was coming,” says
McCrae. “To play hockey at a high
level, you have to move away unless
there’s a junior team in your hometown, but that doesn’t happen for
very many people.”
During that stretch of time,
McCrae experienced moments of
both light and dark, highs and lows,
a Memorial Cup championship and
a crippling knee injury that kept
him out ten weeks and jeopardized
his hockey career.
The good moments, though—
there were many—came when
he was drafted by the Carolina
Hurricanes in 2007, and then in
2008 when he was traded midseason from a sputtering Saskatoon
JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY
Justin McCrae has taken a long road to become the T-Birds captain. One that’s seen everything from broken trophies to busted knee’s.
team to high-flying Spokane,
where they eventually captured the
Memorial Cup.
“The feeling in the dressing room
was a complete 180 from what we
had in Saskatoon. It was almost like
we expected to win, and win everything. That was the only acceptable goal,” he says. “Going into the
Memorial Cup it was a pretty crazy
feeling. We got to fly out there on a
private jet, and we were riding the
high of our finals in the WHL. We
went in there, won our first game
and just kept rolling. It was a wild
experience and something I’ll definitely never forget.”
The elation of the moment after
the final buzzer rang was humourously punctured in the championship ceremony after captain Chris
Bruton raised the trophy and went
to pass it to a teammate, where it
abruptly broke in two.
The crowd erupted in one big
“Oh!”, and the two players, looking
like young boys who just got caught
stealing cake from the fridge,
looked sheepishly around for someone to blame.
“It was surprising,” McCrae
says, smiling. “It was weird.
Everyone was standing on the blue
line and you had a weird feeling
like you knew it was going to break
the way it was…I don’t know. You
didn’t know how to respond to
that.
“It was something that obviously
wasn’t supposed to happen. But
they fixed it with enough time for
us to drink out of it.”
The season after that, McCrae
was named captain of the Chiefs,
and then things took a turn for the
worse.
“My last year of junior, I faced
quite a bit of adversity. I went to the
Carolina Hurricanes camp and had
every hope of playing professionally, maybe not at the NHL level
at the time, but the AHL level,” he
says. “I got sent back from camp, so
it’s obviously disappointing when
you get cut from a team. My first
game back I wrecked my knee and
missed ten weeks and basically half
the season.
“It’s almost depressing when
you’re out that long. I think that
would be my lowest point, but I feel
like things happen for a reason.”
Playing professional hockey
never stayed a dream for McCrae as
it did for others; it always remained
a distinct possibility. There was
hope, hard work, and then a bit of
bad luck that perhaps prevented
him from realizing what could have
been.
“Honestly, my goal the whole
time I was in junior was to get
drafted and then eventually move
on and play professional hockey. I
guess I didn’t really look at it as being realistic or not. I felt confident
enough in my abilities to one day
accomplish that.”
After that, McCrae moved out
to UBC, visiting Cochrane in the
summer and returning to play
hockey in Vancouver every winter.
More importantly, he’s content
with the choices he’s made in life
so far. The regrets aren’t there.
“It’s a pretty good lifestyle, just
worrying about hockey.” U
UBC wins fourth quarter thriller Men’s hockey relies on
Women’s basketball team takes down Trinity 66-61
goalie to split series
Posting Up
Snap Shots
Henry
Lebard
Alison
Mah
Drowning in doubt and watching as the game and their No. 3 CIS
rank was about to slip through their
hands, the UBC women’s basketball
team needed a dramatic shiversdown-your-spine comeback. Trailing 51-37 to the Trinity
Western Spartans in the fourth quarter, the Thunderbirds were being
outplayed by a less-talented squad.
Head coach Deb Huband had seen
her players turn the ball over and allow easy baskets nearly all evening.
There appeared to be no sign of hope.
Yet if this game teaches us anything,
it’s that appearances can only tell so
much. There certainly was a hope, and it
turned into a furious fourth quarter
rally that saw the ‘Birds become victors in a 66-61 court battle, improve
to 3-1 on the season and keep their
CIS ranking intact.
Huband asked her players at the
start of the final frame, “What do
you see, what do you feel, what do
we need to do, what’s going on out
there?” If that’s not a coach putting
trust in her players, I don’t know
what is. The ‘Birds responded in the only
fashion that a championship-calibre
team would know how. They fought
back hard.
Hustling for every loose ball, making nearly every defensive stop and
draining all but of one of their freethrows (18 for 19 from the charity
stripe for the game) UBC marched
off the court with their heads held
CHRIS BORCHERT/THE UBYSSEY
UBC’s Kristjana Young helped propel UBC to victory with a 24 point effort Saturday.
high and full of smiles after closing
the gap, and stealing the win.
The home team’s full-court press
led to a plethora of turnovers by the
Spartans, many of which led to quick
points for the T-Birds. The benches,
along with the home crowd could
feel the tides changing in favour of
UBC. All of the Spartans’ confidence
had seemingly been transferred to
the ‘Birds. For all of the things UBC
can take from this game, however,
there are negatives.
Those smiles I spoke of—they
were smiles of relief. This team must
focus on their next opponent and
keep their eyes on the prize. There
are high expectations for this team,
and with two of their premier players
(Zara Huntley and Alex Vieweeg)
nearing the end of their UBC playing
days, the door for a championship
may not be open next year. The team cannot afford to start
slow against opponents or take
low-ranked teams for granted.
Hopefully the momentum of this
victory will endure into next
weekend’s games in Alberta, where
they’ll face Lethbridge and Calgary
on back-to-back nights. That
same momentum will be needed
going forward into January’s
games against fifth and sixthranked Alberta and Saskatchewan,
respectively.
From what I saw in their two
most recent games, the team needs
to have more confidence in their
shooting and needs to gel offensively. Individual players cannot
always be relied on to make their
own plays and bail out dissolved
offensive possessions. While open
shots are at times missed, players
cannot lose confidence.
The premier teams in the Canada
West will make them pay for tentative decision-making, and make
them pay dearly. U
Friday night at Doug Mitchell arena,
UBC Thunderbirds goaltender
Jordan White stopped 40 of 41 shots
en route to a tight 2-1 UBC victory over the dominating Manitoba
Bisons.
On Saturday, the Bisons overwhelmed the Thunderbirds for most
of the night, peppering White with
39 shots and winning 4-2 in a game
that was marred by missed chances
and defensive relapses by UBC.
“[Friday] night, our penalty kill
was six for six and that was the
difference,” said UBC head coach
Milan Dragicevic. “They scored two
power play goals tonight and they
jumped on us early. Even though we
scored two power play goals, which
is a big positive, we just couldn’t recover. When you get outshot two to
one, you’re not going to win many of
those games.”
When you get outshot
two to one, you’re not
going to win many of
those games
Milan Dragicevic
Head Coach
For the second night in a row,
White was the anchor in net that
kept the Thunderbirds competitive when the rest of the UBC squad
wasn’t functioning as smoothly.
“I thought White gave us that
opportunity to win tonight,” said
Dragicevic. “Once again, there’s no
way we should be giving up 40 shots.
You can’t rely on the goaltender every night. White stole us two points
last night, he gave us that opportunity tonight. We didn’t help him at
all offensively.”
While the Thunderbirds began
the season with 26 goals in 8 games,
they’ve now netted only 6 in their
last 4 games and in that time have
been outscored by a margin of 6 to
13.
UBC is getting opportunities,
but their lack of consistency on the
power play is killing any momentum
they may gather and putting monumental pressure on White and the
backend to keep games close.
“We’re not doing the little things
right now to get to the blue paint,”
said Dragicevic. “Unless we start
paying the price in front of the net,
we’re only going to score one or two
goals a game. If we start going hard
to the net and start getting second
and third shots and our power play
starts capitalizing, we’ll get back to
scoring some more goals.”
This brief four game stint of offensive impotence could be just that:
a blip in the radar of what, in the
grand scheme of things, has been a
relatively consistent offence thus far.
And yet it could also be the emergence of a dangerous theme that
plagued the Thunderbirds late last
season and ultimately cost them a
playoff spot in a competitive Canada
West conference.
There’s still more than half the
season to be played, and UBC is far
from out of it in the standings. Even
a moderate increase offensively, with
the strength of White in goal, should
hopefully smooth out some of the
inconsistencies the ‘Birds have been
dealing with as of late. U
Culture
11.21.2011 |
8
Editor: Ginny Monaco
CAMPUS RADIO>>
CiTR’s fundraising
week in the
FunDriver’s seat
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Patrick Francois was one of six professors who presented at the Faculty of Arts’ “This Hour has Six Ideas” on Thursday.
ALEXANDRA DOWNING/THE UBYSSEY
IDEAS>>
Arts profs present a night of big ideas
Mike Dickson
Staff Writer
On Thursday, six professors in the
Faculty of Arts had ten minutes
each to talk about an idea that
changed their lives.
Well, about fourteen and a half
minutes each.
The forum, “This Hour Has Six
Ideas,” was an opportunity for
Arts professors to showcase ideas
that meant something to them
or changed the way they see the
world. In addition to broaching
some fascinating subjects in political science, music, psychology, economics, First Nations studies and
philosophy, it was also a chance
for professors to see what their
colleagues have been up to.
“As an audience member, it was
really fun to listen to the other
professors and get a sense of what
they’ve been working on,” said
Kathryn Harrison, a UBC political
science professor. Harrison spoke
about the idea of a market-centered
approach to dealing with climate
change and carbon emissions. “As a
speaker, I found it was a lot harder
to write for ten minutes than a
usual lecture length of fifty.”
Her sentiments were echoed by
Rena Sharon. Sharon’s presentation
was about the role of singing across
cultures of the world, the medium
of art song and the transformation it is undergoing to keep the art
form alive. “This was wonderful,
not just for the students but faculty
as well,” Sharon said.
“It’s great for us to be inspired by
each other’s work, and forums like
these create opportunities for all
these fields to converge. Events like
this are the life of the university.”
Andrew Irvine had a captivating section on how people are able
to conceive the impossible, using
the recent phenomenon of particles
breaking the speed of light as an
example and proceeding to the
philosophical arguments behind
it with a subtle humour that drew
some laughs from the audience.
Patrick Francois, an economics
professor, presented a thought-provoking blend of economic psychology. He talked about the relationship
between markets and levels of trust
people have.
Psychology professor Joe
Henrich shared his theory of humanity’s collective brain and how
culture has driven human evolution through social learning. Sheryl
Lightfoot, of political science and
First Nations studies, talked about
the significance of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights
of Indigenous Peoples and what it
means for the indigenous populations of Canada and around the
world.
“This was fantastic. To have
people get off their arses and come
here who just want to listen to
ideas and get their neurons firing,
it’s very humbling,” Henrich said. U
WRITERS>>
Alexis Kienlen examines childhood depression in 13
Will Johnson
Senior Culture Writer
Alexis Kienlen has a number of
strategies for battling depression—exercise, keeping busy and
talk therapy, just to name a few. But
perhaps some of her most profound
healing came through writing.
Her latest book of poetry, 13, explores a variety of themes, including her childhood depression.
“I didn’t realize I had childhood
depression until years later. I’ve
suffered major depressions in my
life—one major incidence at 20 and
another at 30. One of the strategies
I employed was learning as much
about depression as possible,” she
said.
Kienlen wanted to share her discoveries with readers in a creative
way.
“13 was composed over about
six months. I started with a few
themes and wove them together,”
she said. “I wrote sections on monsters, my childhood and another
section about a relationship that I’d
had while living in Vancouver.”
Kienlen currently makes her living as an agricultural reporter in
Edmonton, but she writes both fiction and poetry in her spare time.
She said 13 is much stronger than
her debut collection She Dreams in
Red, which was published in 2007
Edmonton-based Alexis Kienlen reads from her poetry collection 13 on Tuesday.
by Frontenac Press.
“The book is both dark and funny,” she said. “Many of the poems
deal with basic human emotions—
love and loss.”
Kienlen said she hopes her work
can reach those who have struggled with the same issues as she
has.
“I really hope people enjoy the
book. I’m hoping they see that
there is beauty in darkness and can
appreciate some of the themes,” she
said. “I wrote this book because
there were topics that I needed to
talk about and stories that I needed
to tell.”
On Tuesday, November 22,
Kienlen will be doing a reading at
Project Space gallery in Chinatown
along with Vancouver poet Nikki
Reimer, the current managing editor of EVENT magazine.
The pair first met at a book
launch, and have kept in touch over
Twitter.
Reimer will also be promoting
her book, which was shortlisted for
the 2011 Gerald Lampert Memorial
Award. Reimer’s book is a feminist
COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
narrative-disjunctive tour of
Vancouver, illness and capitalism.
“Nikki is a fellow Frontenac
poet, and we met at her reading
in 2010. The publisher suggested
that we team up for the reading,
and I liked her and her work, so I
was happy and excited to do so,”
Kienlen said.
“Her work is very different than
[mine]. She does a lot of clever word
play,” she said. “But I really admire
her work and it’s going to be nice
to share the stage with another
young, female poet.” U
CiTR’s Fundrive will wrap up with a finale
party at the Biltmore on November 25.
Scott MacDonald
Staff Writer
At CiTR this week, it’s all about
having fun to pay the bills.
From November 17 to November
24, CiTR’s annual FunDrive will
raise money to help with station
operations and upgrades. “It’s essentially an on-air telethon where
we ask people on the radio to
donate to CiTR and then we have
volunteers during all hours for
seven days answering the phones
and taking people’s donations,”
said Brenda Grunau, station manager at CiTR.
“Last year we made just over
$30,000 and this year we’re aiming for $35,000, so I’m hopeful.”
With the money raised in 2010,
CiTR set up a digital library of
their extensive music collection.
This year, CiTR plans on looking to the future—appropriately
enough, the theme of the fundraiser is Tune In to the Future—and
will be putting much of the money
raised towards upgrades for their
location at the new SUB. “Towers
only last for so long, the new SUB
is on the horizon and we don’t
have a lot of savings,” said Grunau.
With the increases made to
CiTR student fees last year, the
station created a popular new program called DJing 101.9 that teaches interested students how to DJ.
“The funding has gone directly
back to students. We promised a
Digital DJ training program, and
our hardworking team of DJ trainers have delivered,” said Grace
McRae-Okine, president of CiTR.
FunDrive donations come with
more than a warm feeling of selfsatisfaction; the station will be
giving out prizes based on the
amount of contributions.
Prizes include basic things such
as coolers, T-shirts, hoodies and
so on, but there are much more extravagant offerings as well.
“The best prize this year is a helicopter trip to Victoria and lunch
in Victoria. The highest donor
on [Ben’s] show gets to go on this
trip,” said Grunau.
This event is more important
than ever for CiTR and donations
will be used to “keep us relevant
and awesome as ever for years to
come,” said McRae-Okine.
“It costs a lot to run a radio station—all that shared equipment
sees a lot of use, and the better we
can give our employees, volunteers
and programmers, the better we
can get.” U
11.21.2011 | Games | 9
Sudoku by Krazydad
Comicsmaster by Maria Cirstea
Sazaemon by Meki Shu
Opinion
11.21.2011 |
10
Editor: Brian Platt
The Senate shouldn’t
hide their work
Editor’s
Notebook
Brian
Platt
INDIANA JOEL/THE UBYSSEY
The Last Word
Parting shots and snap judgments on today’s issues
In celebrating Vision, don’t
forget about COPE
The re-election of Gregor
Robertson and further entrenchment of Vision Vancouver as
the dominant political party in
Vancouver was celebrated by
many UBC students last night, and
that’s not surprising. Your typical politically-minded student is
idealistic, socially progressive,
fiscally conservative (but hates
political labels), pro-environment,
loves talking about how awesome
Vancouver is and loves Twitter. For
them, Vision is a perfect fit.
But yesterday’s results also
wiped COPE off the map, which is
unfortunate even if you don’t own a
Che Guevara shirt. On development
and affordability issues, Vision is
essentially NPA-lite: while their
commitment to stopping homelessness is to be commended, for those
of us looking for homes to rent—and
one day, maybe buy—the last three
years haven’t been kind. A COPE
councillor speaking up on the cost
of living in Vancouver wouldn’t
have changed the plans of Vision
and NPA, but it at least would have
made them stop and listen.
If students want to not only love
Vancouver, but also be able to afford to live here post-graduation,
Saturday’s results won’t help their
chances.
Three more years for Harris as
Electoral Area A director
While Saturday’s civic election
made a good number of students
excited that their favourite juiceman was given another term by
the voters of Vancouver, there’s
another politician that deserves
congratulations: Maria Harris, reelected to a second term as director
of Electoral Area A.
In the race to be the only municipal representative of the UBC area,
Harris ran a solid campaign, and
the combination of her incumbency
and the inexperience of her competitors led to an easy win.
Turnout increased from 743 in
2008 to 931 this year, which shows
that while interest in our quasidemocratic systems is growing, the
number of people who care are still
vastly eclipsed by those who don’t.
But for those who do care how
the lands west of Blanca are governed, Harris is your representative
for another three years. She’s been
elected by students and permanent residents to fight for us on
the Metro Vancouver board. While
we haven’t been thrilled with her
lack of focus on student issues the
last three years, we hope that will
change this time around. We wish
her well.
The Senate took too long to
come to the right decision
After many months, UBC has finally come to the conclusion that all
but the most pedantic guarders of
academia minutia had already figured out: that Japanese-Canadian
UBC students who were forced out
of the university during World War
II should be awarded honourary
degrees.
The announcement should have
been one of unequivocal celebration and remembrance. Instead,
it came about after a prolonged in
camera discussion by the Senate,
which was preceded by months
of awkward posturing by the
university.
Indeed, UBC’s response to
this, while well-meaning, was not
exactly sure-footed. First, there
was the rejection of the original
wish for honourary degrees. Then,
there were ham-fisted attempts
to explain that honourary degrees
had very set criteria around them.
Finally, there was an acknowledgement that the university had to
move to accommodate this unique
request—but it would be done in
secret, only to be announced after
they had put a fancy bow on the
proceedings.
The internment of JapaneseCanadians, one of the darkest moments in the history of this province, was one that this university
was wholly complicit in. When the
ceremony happens in May, it will
provide closure to many and be an
emotional and uplifting moment
for all. For that, the university deserves credit. We just wish it hadn’t
taken them so long.
All Board of Governors reps
should play by the same rules
If Bill 18 passes in the BC legislature, the Board of Governors (BoG)
at all universities in the province
will be able to remove members
elected by students and faculty if
they can get a two-thirds majority
vote. Provincial appointees will not
be subject to this. Student politicians are outraged over this prospect, and we are too.
Anyone on the BoG should be
entitled to serve their full term.
But if we are going to allow people
to be removed, it should only be
done by those who got that person
on the board in the first place. For
elected members, only the electorate should be able to remove them.
For appointed members, only the
appointers should have removal
power.
At the very least, all BoG members should be subject to the same
rules. It is completely unfair, not
to mention undemocratic, that
student and faculty representatives could be voted out but not the
provincial appointees. Bill 18 must
not be allowed to pass in its current
form.
The Grey Cup isn’t the only
game in town this weekend
With the BC Lions’s victory over
Edmonton today, we have the
chance for a home team victory in
the Grey Cup. Unfortunately the
game has been sold out for weeks,
so none of us will be able to go.
But don’t forget the Vanier Cup,
which pits Laval against McMaster
for the top prize in Canadian university football. It’s too bad the
T-Birds weren’t able to make it past
Calgary, but tickets are still available and quite cheap. This is a great
chance to see high quality football
in a beautiful new venue. And, you
know, get really drunk with all
your friends in public. U
Last Wednesday, the UBC Senate
voted to give special degrees to
Japanese-Canadian students
who, during World War II, were
kicked out of university due to the
forced internment of all JapaneseCanadians. Yet we can’t tell you
what the deliberations were like, or
whether there was any significant
dissent, or even the details of the
vote. That’s because all of the proceedings on this matter were done
behind closed doors.
According to Senate procedures,
the Tributes Committee’s work is
generally done in camera. When
honourary degrees are considered
for specific people, senators need to
be able to discuss the issue honestly
but in private to avoid harming that
person’s reputation.
But that doesn’t apply in this case.
No personal reputations were at
stake; it was simply a debate over a
policy decision of great interest to
all Canadians with a sense of history
and justice.
I’ve talked to a few senators who
were involved with this, and two
things are clear. One, there was no
pressing reason why this debate had
to be sealed from public view. Two,
the Tributes Committee handled
the issue in a very thoughtful and
responsible manner and came to the
right answer in the end­—which to
me only reinforces the first point.
The main justification for secrecy was that due to fear of public
backlash over their comments, it
was better to shield senators from
observers. To which I say: tough
beans. You’re on the senate of a public institution. People may get upset
over your stance on some things.
Deal with it.
But even if you accept the argument that this was a particularly
sensitive topic, it’s a dangerous habit
to allow public bodies to get away
with. It’s the same argument used
by the Gage South Working Group
to keep their meetings protected
from public scrutiny. When the options were presented last week for
what to do with the bus loop area,
we have to take their word for it that
any options left off the table were
“unviable.” If that’s really true, then
why weren’t we allowed to see the
work? What’s the harm?
I’m not one of those dopes who
think that all information should
be public all the time. Wikileaks, to
take the obvious example, actually
hurt the cause of transparency with
its indiscriminate document dumps.
Sometimes there are legitimate reasons for secrecy, and violating that
privacy can prevent public institutions from functioning effectively.
But the default position for public
institutions must be that their work
is open and transparent, unless there
are strong justifications to do otherwise. That people might be afraid
to speak up is a weak excuse, except
perhaps in a few extreme cases.
In the 1970s, Svend Robinson, the
former NDP Member of Parliament,
was a student member of the UBC
Board of Governors. He got so mad
at the board’s penchant for going in
camera that he’d drop off those secret minutes at The Ubyssey’s office.
I don’t expect current Board of
Governors and Senate members to
start leaking minutes, but I do wish
they would do more to combat needless secrecy. Transparency builds
respect for the university and allows dissent to be seen in full. Most
importantly, it ensures everyone can
truly be held to account for their
words and actions. U
Let the camp stay
Perspectives
>> Conrad Compagna
There’s a story commonly told about
Occupy Vancouver. It goes like this:
the first few marches were led by
rosy-cheeked, middle-class college
students, rational if misguided, but
they all left because they had jobs
and school, so the only ones remaining are drifters, junkies and “blackmasked” anarchists, in the words
of Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu.
According to this story, Ashlie
Gough’s overdose two weeks ago
was proof the camp needed to go.
Except it’s not.
First of all, Ashlie defied rightwing stereotypes about protestors.
I knew her personally, and although
she was a recreational drug user,
she was bright, talented and artistic.
In many ways, she was actually
representative of our generation.
She lived in subsidized housing because the cost of living was so high
and she was having trouble finding
work—issues anyone who just graduated from high school can sympathize with. Occupy Vancouver seeks
to address those issues, and it should
be allowed to continue doing so.
I respect the fact that Mayor
Gregor Robertson wanted a peaceful solution with the court injunction, which would spare Vancouver
the counter-revolutionary mayhem
seen in Oakland. But why do he
and his supporters want Occupy
Vancouver shut down? Is it really
because they’re afraid the camp is a
fire hazard, or is it because they’re
tired of having a group of marginalized people whose lives are messy
and sometimes tragic in their midst?
Would they rather Ashlie had overdosed on the Downtown Eastside,
out of mind and out of sight?
The camp needs to stay as well as
the protestors.
Robertson has said the protestors can stay, but the camp needs to
go. That’s no compromise. There’s
power that comes with occupying a public space. The Egyptian
Revolution never would have happened without Tahrir Square, and
decision-makers know it. When
Wall Street billionaire and New
York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
evicted protestors from Zucotti
Park last Monday, he was not
spring cleaning. Police came in
the night with floodlights, sound
cannons and a fleet of garbage
trucks, with which they carted
away $100,000 worth of donations,
including an entire library. They effectively eviscerated the birthplace
of the Occupy movement, and it’s
unclear whether it will rebound. To
use Ashlie’s name to do the same to
Occupy Vancouver is to slander it. U
Scene
11.21.2011 |
11
Pictures and words on your university experience
LIVING >>
Screw braving the elements; I’m hibernating
Seasonal Affective Disorder is no match for TV, grilled cheese and masturbation
Melodramatic
Musings
Will
Johnson
I was driving through the slush as
snow drifted down when I spotted
a particularly determined girl hiking to school through the ankledeep mush.
She was wearing a short skirt, a
pea coat and high heels. Her legs
were pink, blotchy and bare. She
was smoking a cigarette angrily
and looked like she wanted to put
it out in somebody’s eye.
If I had my way, I would
never have to leave the
house in anything other
than a pair of shorts and
some flip flops.
It’s official: people on the West
Coast hate snow.
Traffic gnarls up, residents look
out their windows despondently
and the city devolves into chaos.
“Since when does it snow in
November?” everyone asks, as if
winter is a completely unprecedented phenomenon. The fact that
the snow usually doesn’t really
stick and only lasts about two days
is entirely irrelevant. People are
completely lost.
The Edmontonians among
us scoff at our ineptitude. The
Toronto natives can’t figure out
what the big deal is.
But all of us who grew up in
Vancouver are as helpless as abandoned kittens in the face of winter.
It seems like every year we forget
that cold weather exists.
I don’t even own gloves, an umbrella or any sort of winter jacket.
As soon as my feet get wet, I just
want to murder someone.
This is where most columnists
would encourage people to suck
it up, to enjoy the majestic beauty
and slap a pair of snow tires on
your car. But not this guy. I say
we should all start hiding inside
where it’s nice and warm.
I’ve never been diagnosed,
but I’m convinced I have an extreme case of Seasonal Affective
Disorder.
If I had my way, I would never
have to leave the house in anything other than a pair of shorts
and some flip flops. I haven’t ruled
out the possibility of moving to
Thailand or Australia someday—
somewhere I can hide from snow
for the rest of my life.
However, I also welcome the
excuse to sit around my house
and spend an exorbitant amount
of time watching TV and surfing
Facebook. I pad around in sweatpants, make myself grilled cheese
WORK HARD
PLAY HARD
Volunteer for
The Ubyssey,
enjoy perks
like these.
GEOFF LISTER PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY
Why go outside at all in these winter months? It’s much easier to settle down with some HBO, sleep 10 hours a day and eat junk food.
sandwiches and sleep unreasonably long hours. Every Christmas,
I put on 5, 10, even 15 pounds of
insulating fat. This, my friends, is
the art of hibernation.
Winter is also a great time to
catch up on sex, assuming you
have a special someone kicking
around. If not, a warm shower and
a laptop connected to the Internet
should do the trick.
So while other people go snowboarding or tobogganing, I recommend that you cancel all your
immediate plans, catch up on your
reading, go buy a couple of TV
show box sets (I recommend Mad
Men, Breaking Bad or The Wire)
and stock up on groceries and beer
for the long haul.
You’ll be glad you did. U
12 | Games | 11.21.2011
Across
(CUP) — Puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com. Used with
permission.
OCCUPY>>
The tents are coming down
for Occupy Vancouver
After losing a court battle to maintain physical presence in the
plaza outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, activists dismantled
the tent city that had occupied the square since October 15.
The movement’s website asked volunteers to assist with
cleanup as it moved to “Occupy 2.0,” but over the weekend few
of the site’s nearly 100 tents had been dismantled, according to
the Vancouver Sun.
There is currently no indication of where the movement
might go next, although City Hall is an option. According to a
Sun reporter on Twitter, a proposal came to the general assembly to keep the next location secret until the last minute.
A rally in support of the movement is scheduled at noon on
Monday. The deadline to remove the tents is 2pm.
—Andrew Bates
1— Love affair
8— A chewy candy
15— High—spirited horse
16— Function
17— One of the Furies
18— Cornmeal mush
19— Enzyme ending
20— Comply
22— Syrian leader
23— Small hand drum
25— Westernmost of the
Aleutians
26— HI hi
29— French school
31— Dash lengths
34— Majestic
36— Boater or bowler
37— “South Park” kid
38— Floating mass
40— Ecstasy
42— “Judith” composer
43— Cycle starter
45— Person with a paper,
perhaps
46— O.T. book
47— African wader
49— Summit
50— Slippery _______ eel
52— Plumber’s tool
54— Carries on
56— 3:00
57— French possessive
60— Listener
62— Hard to define
65— Kitchen gadgets
66— Narc
67— Cooked but still firm
68— Wrap with bandages
Down
1— Avatar of Vishnu
2— Metal containers
3— Merlin, e.g.
4— Attorney’s org.
5— Never, in Nuremberg
6— Chocolate substitute
7— Allow
8— Reproduction
9— GI mail drop
10— Narrate
11— Give it _ !
12— Gentleness
13— Blues singer James
14— Be in front
21— “From _ according to his
abilities…”
23— Monetary unit of Botswana
24— Bern’s river
25— Communion table
26— Continental identity of a
Chinese person
27— “Filthy” money
28— Liberal
30— Boat propeller
32— Nostrils
33— Hagar the Horrible’s dog
35— Boston hockey player
37— Blank look
39— Econ. indicator
41— Quarter bushel
44— Res _ loquitur
47— Hurry
48— Beginnings
51— Subway turner
53— Attorney follower
54— _ ___ Nui (Easter Island)
55— The Clan of the Cave Bear
author
56— Celtic tongue
57— Immature herring
58— Daredevil Knievel
59— Parched
61— Leftover
63— Respect for Acting author
Hagen
64— Avg.