Not now, I’m eating roast meat with my woman since 1918
from cheaper eating to budgeting while on exchange: the ubyssey’s guide to finance.
U
A microbrewery in the new SUB? It’s more likely than you think! page 3
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the ubyssey
MARCH 03, 2011 volume 92, number xxxviii room 24, student union building published mondays and thursdays feedback@ubyssey.ca
Last year was a financial flop. this year’s was up in the air. the question is...
can UBC students still put on a show?
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2 / u b y s s e y. c a / e v e n t s / 2 0 11 . 0 3 . 0 3 march 03, 2011 volume xcii, no xxxviii editorial
events
coordinating editor
ongoing events
news editor
Ubyssey Production • Come help us create this baby! Learn about layout and editing. Expect to be fed. • Every Sunday and Wednesday, 2pm.
Justin McElroy : coordinating@ubyssey.ca Arshy Mann : news@ubyssey.ca
assistant news editor
Kalyeena Makortoff : kmakortoff@ubyssey.ca
senior news writer
Micki Cowan : mcowan@ubyssey.ca
culture editors
Virginie Ménard : production@ubyssey.ca
resource groups • Are you working on a progressive project, but need funding? Do you have an idea, but can’t get it off the ground? Apply to the Resource Groups for funding! Come in, pitch your idea to us and we will consider fully or partially funding your project. • Every Monday, 11am in SUB 245 (second floor, north-east corner). For more info email resourcegroups.ams@ gmail.com.
Kai Green : copy@ubyssey.ca
thursday, mar. 3
Tara Martellaro : multimedia@ubyssey.ca
Oh My Darling: The Love Shack Tour • With a sweet name and
Jonny Wakefield & Bryce Warnes : culture@ubyssey.ca
senior culture writer
Ginny Monaco : gmonaco@ubyssey.ca
culture illustrator Indiana Joel : ijoel@ubyssey.ca
sports editor
Marie Vondracek : sports@ubyssey.ca
features editor
Trevor Record : features@ubyssey.ca
photo editor
Geoff Lister : photos@ubyssey.ca
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multimedia editor
associate multimedia editor Stephanie Warren : associate.multimedia@ubyssey.ca
video editor
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Jeff Blake : webmaster@ubyssey.ca Room 24, Student Union Building 6138 Student Union Boulevard Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 tel: 604.822.2301 web: www.ubyssey.ca e-mail: feedback@ubyssey.ca
business Room 23, Student Union Building print advertising: 604.822.1654 business office: 604.822.6681 web advertising: 604.822.1658 e-mail: advertising@ubyssey.ca
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contributors Mandy Ng Karina Palmitesta Charles To Anna Kouzovleva Jasmine Shum Kelsea O’Connor Will MacDonald Dennis Tsang
Kait Bolongaro Gordon Katic Amelia Waiz Chelsea Sweeney Paulina Aksenova Alicia Woodside Marie Valstad Jon Chiang
even sweeter sound, Oh My Darling conjures up the right mix of emotion and elation with their unique brand of country. Their prairie roots mixed with bluegrass, Appalachian old time, southern twang and Francofolk makes their style a melting pot of musical languages. Their winter Love Shack Tour features love-themed singles in a run of shows in Western Canada. • 9pm, Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St, $10.
english majors: ice cream social • This event is for Eng-
of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Theatre Lübeck, Germany. This concert also features a new work by UBC composition student Eileen Padgett and piano soloist Bogdan Dulu, winner of the 2011 UBC Concerto Competition. • 8–10pm, Chan Centre, free. citr radio open house • Ever wonder what a functioning campus and community radio station looks like? Ever stay up late at night asking yourself just how we store all the CDs and records we have at our disposal? Well, you’re in luck, because CiTR 101.9 FM is having an open house. Come to the SUB for snacks, station tours and maybe even a chance to get on-air. • 12– 4pm, Room 233, SUB.
monday, mar. 7 citr radio volunteer orientation • Interested in getting in-
volved with CiTR? Swing by our monthly volunteer orientation session. It’s a chance for you to learn about what’s going on for volunteers at CiTR, and get to know people involved with the station. • 6:30–7:30pm, CiTR Lounge, Room 233, SUB. For more info, email Andrew at volunteer@citr.ca.
tuesday, mar. 8
lish majors and potential English majors (especially secondyear students). Alumni from the program have been invited to speak about their experiences in the work force and also discuss internship opportunities. • 4–6pm, Room 261, Irving K Barber.
UNICEF UBC: casino royale • Unicef UBC and Deke are hosting their charity event, “Casino Royale.” There will be poker, blackjack and a cash bar. All of the proceeds will go to the Pakistan Relief Fund. • 6–11pm, UBC Global Lounge, email unicef.ubc.ams@gmail.com for more information.
friday, mar. 4
wednesday, mar. 9
ubc symphonic orchestr a •
coastal first nations dance festival • This festival highlights the
Guest conductor for this concert is Roman Brogli-Sacher, chief conductor and opera director
richness and diversity of traditional First Nations dance groups
from coastal BC through public performances, ticketed events and special school programs. • Runs until Mar 13, 10am– 5pm, Museum of Anthropology, $14/$12 + HST. For a full schedule of events, please visit moa.ubc.ca/events or contact (604) 822-5978 or programs@ moa.ubc.ca. ubc film societ y screening: tangled • The UBC Film Soci-
ety will be showing Tangled, the latest film from Disney. The magically long-haired Rapunzel has spent her entire life in a tower, but now that a runaway thief has stumbled upon her, she is about to discover the world for the first time, and who she really is. • Runs until Mar 13, 7–9pm, Norm Theatre, SUB. $2.50 members, $5 non-members.
Roommate Meet Up • Moving off-
friday, mar. 11 UBC Film Socie t y Screening: CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER • The
UBC Film Society will be showing The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third film in the Narnia series. Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace, where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world. • Runs until Mar. 13, 9–11pm, Norm Theatre, SUB. $2.50 members, $5 non-members.
saturday, mar. 12 amnest y international ubc conference • Amnesty Inter-
campus next year? Still looking for that perfect roommate? Speed Renting and UBC Residence Life are pleased to offer UBC students a unique and personalized roommate meetup event. These events offer an informal, relaxed atmosphere where you have the opportunity to meet and mingle with students just like you! Free food and refreshments provided. • 5:30–7pm, Marine Drive Residence Commonsblock, $8 entrance fee.
national UBC is hosting their conference, “When is a Democracy not a Democracy?” This small scale conference provides the perfect environment for discussion and networking amongst students, professors, speakers and other members of the community. Dress code is business casual. • 1:30–6:30pm, Lillooet Room (301), Chapman Learning Centre, Irving K Barber. Order tickets via eventbrite.com.
thursday, mar. 10
hugh masekela • The Indepen-
hungry 4 change • Oxfam UBC
presents Hungry 4 Change, an annual dinner organized and hosted by UBC students that gathers together the community for a taste of the reality of food distribution inequality. Featuring speakers from Oxfam Canada as well as a special guest. • 6:30pm, Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St, $25, $15 for students. For tickets, visit oxfamubc.rezgo.com or email oxfamubc.h4c@gmail.com.
dent legendar y South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela is an innovator in the world music and jazz scene and is active as a performer, composer, producer and activ ist. His tour in support of his latest album, Phola, brings him (on flugelhorn) to UBC, where he will combine with five other superb South African musicians to explore his incredible musical his tor y. • 8 pm, Chan Centre, $55.25 – $73.25.
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News
editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca assistant editor KALYEENA MAKORTOFF » kmakortoff@ubyssey.ca SENIOR WRITER MICKI COWAN » mcowan@ubyssey.ca
AMS looking to install brew pub in new SUB Arshy Mann news@ubyssey.ca SafeWalk stout. Point Grey pilsner. AleMS. These delectable drinks could soon be a reality. Plans to build a microbrewery in the new Student Union Building are currently fermenting in the AMS. If this plan is approved, the AMS would be the only student union in the country to own and operate a microbrewery. VP Finance Elin Tayyar said that the brew pub would be focused on the UBC community. “We’re looking at selling [beer] to clubs and campus groups. We would not be interested in selling to off-campus groups at all,” he said. “The whole point is to keep it local for our students and faculty.” Tayyar said that the AMS first became interested in the idea of a brew pub because of cost issues as well as sustainability ones. “Sustainability is a huge portion of this because you’re avoiding all the transportation. We’ll be looking to use [products] from the farm and give our by-products to the farm to use,” he said. “The cost of making your beer is a lot less…there’s no price minimum that we have to sell it to ourselves at.” The AMS has hired a consulting firm with experience in setting up microbreweries to look into the matter. Tayyar said that the AMS’s first concern is the financial feasibility of the building a microbrewery. “We wouldn’t want to lose money on this project because there’s a lot of capital costs
Liambas to leave UBC after concussion hit
David elop Photo/ The Ubyssey Micropeople making some microbrews under the Knoll. Indiana joel Illustration/The Ubyssey
involved and we wouldn’t want to take that kind of a hit in uncertain times. “We’d probably be looking at a 20 year pay-off of the initial investment. It depends on what the demand is going to be, what the market is going to look like, the pricing, et cetera.” The microbrewery would likely be placed next to the Pit Pub in the new SUB. This would require digging deeper under the Knoll, where the Pit is currently slated to go. According to their consultants, the AMS would have to hire a full-time brewmaster and an assistant for the brew pub. Last October, the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union axed a similar plan to
open their own microbrewery. A report commission by the USSU said that the project was financially infeasible and would be stifled by restrictive liquor laws. The microbrewery was a pet project of USSU President Warren Kirkland. He had proposed the pub as both a revenue opportunity for the USSU and a way to train chemistry and biology students to become future brewers. In order to repay the full cost of the venture, the pub would have had to sell 20,000 liters of beer a year for the next 25 years, which the USSU determined was unlikely to happen. The En gineerin g St udents’ Union (EUS) at UBC is also considering installing a
microbrewery in the new Engineering Student Centre (ESC). “A microbrewery is currently being designed by a group of graduating chemical engineering students as part of their capstone design project course,” said former EUS President Lin Watt. However, she added that, “the feasibility of implementing the microbrewery in the ESC has not been determined yet.” Tay yar said that the AMS would be deciding whether to move forward with the microbrewery at the end of March. “We’ll see what our consultants come up with. We’re doing a very thorough study and we’ll be relying on their results to make the decision,” he said. U
Law school more competitive during recession Mike Dickson Contributor This June, several thousand Arts and Science graduates will receive their degree, shake the hand of Stephen Toope, smile for the cameras and then calmly face the question that so many before them have faced: What now? For many who are furtive about their future career prospects, the answer lies in attaining more education to set themselves apart from peers. For Arts students especially, that often means law school. During times of economic downturn, like the global recession we have recently emerged from, applications to UBC Law often increase substantially. Since September 2010, 20 per cent more people applied to UBC Law than the previous year. “When there is an influx of applications every category becomes more competitive,” said Elaine Borthwick, director of J.D. admissions for UBC Law. “However, 2010 was not a normal year, as competitiveness increased this year by only four per cent.” Additionally, the faculty is admitting 200 first year law
NEWS BRIEFS
The law building under construction. Geoff LIster Photo/The Ubyssey
students this year instead of the 180 it has admitted in each of the last two years. With the economic downturn, law school has become more difficult to be accepted to, but not overly so. Even in down years, people still need lawyers. “The job market was definitely affected by the recession we
just experienced,” said Pamela Cyr, director of Career Services at the UBC Faculty of Law. “Despite this, the articling placement rate among our graduates is very high, about 96 per cent.” However, what happens when you leave law school and resume your job search remains governed by the dual laws of
first-come-first-served and survival of the fittest. Insurance lawyer Seth Wheeldon, a recent graduate of the UBC J.D. program, thinks that the ultra-competitive legal job market in Vancouver might bear fruit for the rest of BC. “In Vancouver, the market is especially competitive. After the recession, I noticed some of my peers taking jobs in the interior of BC,” Wheeldon said. “The fact that the market shrunk in Vancouver proper has benefited places like Kelowna and Kamloops that have struggled with filling vacancies in the past.” While the economy no doubt has an impact on the number of admissions to UBC Law year-toyear, an esteemed faculty reputation likely garners as much competition for student admission as do economic and employment considerations. “We are committed to being one of the world’s great centres for legal education and research,” Borthwick said. “I believe UBC Law has a solid reputation for being one of the best law schools in Canada and as a result students are very eager to attend UBC Law.” U
Justin McElroy coordinating@ubyssey.ca Mike Liambas has decided to leave UBC’s hockey program following an on-ice fight and subsequent two - game suspension that garnered attention from coast to coast. “Michael has decided to leave UBC and pursue professional hockey,” head coach Milan Dragicevic said Wednesday, offering no further comment. Sources have told The Ubyssey Liambas hopes to sign with a professional team after the winter semester has ended. In Friday’s game against the Alberta Golden Bears, Liambas got into an altercation with Eric Hunter, Alberta’s captain. Though the reason for the altercation is disputed, it ended with Hunter suffering a concussion and facial cuts. Liambas was assessed a game misconduct and twogame suspension, leaving him out of UBC’s final game of the year on Saturday. The story quickly made national headlines because of Liambas’s past career in the Ontario Hockey League, which ended in October 2009 when he checked Ben Fanelli of the Kitchener Rangers into the boards, fracturing his skull. Liambas was suspended for the remainder of the season and decided to move to UBC after the school offered him a scholarship. In November, Liambas said he was looking forward to the opportunities UBC would provide for his career and academics. “After everything I’ve been through, the best route for my life right now is for some mental stability and just settling it down for a bit,” he said. “I’m getting my school done and paid for and I’m still playing hockey. I’ll be able to work on the offensive side of my game, instead of worrying about fighting.” All requests for comment from Liambas were directed to Nick James, his agent. —With files from Marie Vondracek
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100 volunteers most years, and the core organizers were donating a huge amount of time into organizing the event. “We really had an incredible thing going on for those 16 years, and I think that anyone who was involved with organizing Arts County Fair should be very very proud of what we were able to do,” she added. “But all good things come to an end at some point.”
lock Party 2010 left the AMS with a bit of a financial hang-over. Once the cups were cleared from MacInnes Field and students stumbled off to finals and summer, it became clear that the student society was a little more in the hole than they expected. Headlined by the Barenaked Ladies and attended by only 2900 students, the third annual Block Party lost $103,000. Facing a tight budget due to decreased business revenues, the AMS decided this year’s Block Party couldn’t afford to lose money. The event’s budget has been scaled back to $92,767, a large drop when you consider last year’s talent budget alone was $115,000. With a month to go until Block Party Four, it seems the event is at an important juncture. With the AMS hurting for money, the demand for large one-off concerts drying up and memories of the glory days of Arts County Fair fading fast, can students still put on a show?
It’s all been done
Concerts in a dangerous time The market for large outdoor concerts has dwindled in recent years. “They’re certainly expensive to do for one day,” said Shea Dahl, the director of AMS Events. “Your costs are always going to be high if it’s a one-day event.” The trend is now towards either huge events or smaller club shows. “The concert business has dried up,” said Alnoor Aziz, associate director and CFO of UBC Athletics. “The biggest promoter, Live Nation, is not doing mid-level concerts anymore. They’re only sticking with big ticket items, big ticket names and sticking with certain venues only such as Rogers Arena.” Thunderbird Stadium used to be such a venue, but has recently been turfed, making large concerts next to impossible at the venerable stadium. This September, UBC Athletics negotiated with the University Neighbourhood Association and RCMP to begin having DJ shows at T-Bird Arena, but the idea is in bureaucratic paralysis. That puts the AMS in an awkward position: subsidizing a midsized event which generally loses money and is attended by a relatively small chunk of the student population. Is Block Party something the AMS can continue to sustain? AMS President Jeremy McElroy said that in previous years, it was accepted that they would run a deficit on Block Party. “The AMS likes capping either end of the year with a big festival, so [it is] all about subsidizing this particular event,” he said. McElroy attributed a number of factors beyond the talent budget to last year’s loss. “The bands we’d originally lined up pulled out at the last minute, so we were stuck trying to find a group to play and essentially opted for a more expensive band,” he said. “The AMS had embraced it and allowed for that deficit. So it wasn’t a super huge deal, like, ‘Argh, we’ve lost all this money,’” said McElroy. Past headliners have included the Roots, Hey Ocean and Michael Bernard Fitzgerald. This year’s talent budget has been cut to almost 1/6th of last years—to $18,500. This necessitated hiring smaller names: the lineup, announced early this week, has a more electronic/hip hop bent, with Switch, rye rye, Team Canada DJs, and MY!GAY!HUSBAND! performing. The AMS will still need to sell at least 4318 tickets to break even. When the AMS released its budget this year and Block Party had not been included, rumours
It’s been Four years since the shutdown of Canada’s largest student-run concert. This year, A cut-back Block Party is looking a little worse for wear. SO What’s the future of campus parties? spread in the AMS that the concert had been canceled. McElroy said this was frustrating for last year’s executive, who had no intention of ever cutting Block Party. “People were saying, ‘Oh, it’s not budgeted for, so it’s canceled.’ No matter how much we’d say, ‘No, it’s happening,’ people seemed to think we were lying,” he said. “To me, that was a personal affront, because of my involvement with Arts County Fair, that anyone would think that I would, number one, let that happen and number two, lie about it.” Thanks, that was fun Every year, from 1992 to 2007, UBC was home to Canada’s largest student-organized event, Arts County Fair, the Arts Undergraduate Society’s response to the Engineers’ OktobEUrfest. The first year of ACF was intended to mimic a real county fair, complete with rides and featuring musical accompaniment by then little-known Canadian rock band Barenaked Ladies. In the gap between BNL being booked for the show and the day of the concert, the group’s debut album Gordon topped charts—and suddenly, tickets for ACF sold out. Due to the number of people attending, the show was moved from MacInnes Field to Thunderbird Arena and on April 3, 1992, a UBC institution was born. “Some people look back and smile, while some people look back and grimace at the memory of Arts County Fair,” said McElroy, who was social coordinator for the AUS during the last year the
Jonny Wakefield & Bryce Warnes culture@ubyssey.ca society put on ACF. “Fifteen thousand people, five bands, 500 kegs of beer—it was huge. But also, at times, it did reflect poorly, making UBC a party school, just a reason for binge drinking and general debauchery.” It may have been ACF’s double nature as a source of student pride and campus chaos that led to its demise. The event was not well-loved by UNA residents or the RCMP. “Certainly it’s been no secret that the RCMP has not been very supportive of Arts County Fair, ever since 2003, 2004 onwards,” said Mike Kushnir, who was heavily involved in planning and running the ACF from 2002 to 2007. Kushnir, who now regularly organizes parties in East Vancouver, suggested that market housing was one cause for increasing financial pressures on ACF. “People who buy property [on campus] want to make sure they get their beauty sleep and that their flowers don’t get trampled on. So we had to make sure that there were security guards that were patrolling the more delicate areas,” said Kushnir. “I don’t really know how many residents actually complained, but with the increase of market housing on campus, it definitely gave the RCMP the cards to say that they were responding to community desires.” ACF a lso faced i nt erna l obstacles. “One of things that happened was there was a lot of people
within the [AUS] that really managed to coalesce institutional information and decision making... that knowledge didn’t really get transferred on through the years,” said Kushnir. “So what happened was, you had this group of people who had done it for three or four years in a row, they didn’t really have anybody to pass on the torch, so to speak. It became harder and harder to run.” As the central group of volunteers organizing the event graduated and left UBC, there was no one to take over in their stead. And with the heart of the ACF’s volunteer base being whittled away, the enthusiasm of those less directly involved with planning the event waned. “Because there was this internal decision-making process, the other people who had to work on it saw it less and less as their project and as someone else’s project,” said Kushnir. “There was more absenteeism and people started questioning why they were doing it. So the volunteer staff started to dwindle and the quality of their work started to dwindle, [and] there [were] more things that needed to be contracted out, which upped the cost.” By the time ACF was cancelled, the event had racked up $38,000 in debt for the AUS. “At the same time, people expected more volunteer organizers,” said Stephanie Ryan, who was AUS President in 2006 and 2007. “Shrinking revenue, increasing costs—it’s not a sustainable trend. And it was also a very labour intensive event to pull off. We had probably between 50 and
Students began protesting ACF’s demise shortly after it was cancelled. But it was far beyond revival, and attempts to fill the vacuum it left have, for the most part, failed. During its best year, Block Party attracted barely half the number of people ACF did at its worst. “The problem now is that, if people tried to bring back ACF, you would be bringing back something that would be a poor imitation of it,” said Brian Platt, current AUS President. “ACF is not going to come back in the form that it was before, even if it’s just for the fact that there’s nowhere on campus any more where you can have a 17,000 person party. It would be better to leave ACF as it was: as sort of this amazing, magical thing that happened for 15 years.” Platt said that, in order for something capable of taking ACF’s place to develop, student societies need to “think outside the box” when planning their events. “When they throw events now, it’s almost always [in] the SUB ballroom or their own student space,” he said. “If we start taking a few risks—making sure that it’s a manageable risk, that it’s something you’ll organize well and that you have t he capacity to organize it—that’s especially what this university needs.” Platt points to Get Lucky, the AUS’s 2011 St. Patrick’s Day event, as one such risk-taking venture. An outdoor concert and beer garden taking place around the Knoll, Get Lucky has a capacity of 500 students, with tickets selling for five dollars. It will feature Vancouver performers, as well as performances by finalists in the AMS’s battle of the bands, Combat Rock. “We’re trying to pioneer something new with Get Lucky. There’s risks involved, it might rain,” said Platt. But he argued the danger of failure is well worth the potential rewards of success—namely, the seed of a yearly institution like ACF. “I’m not saying that Get Lucky’s the next ACF,” said Platt. “What I’m saying is that these things start with an idea and the important thing is to do that idea well.” If we had a million dollars Even though it has fallen on tough times, McElroy said he is sure the AMS will stay committed to the idea of a party on the last day of classes. If they finds itself in a better way financially, McElroy said the event will likely be given a larger budget. “The AMS has always contributed to these events without any expectation of recompense.” Though he hopes more students will turn out to the show, he doesn’t think relatively small attendance numbers—especially when compared to ACF—is any reason to discount the event. “Not all students take advantage of our tutoring services, not all students take advantage of our food bank, he said. “The argument has been made that if only 4000 people go to Block Party, but you’re spending $40,000, is that a good use of student money? And I would say absolutely.” U
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The hacker who schooled PlentyOfFish
profile
Chris Russo reveals security flaws the best way he knows how
When he’s not hacking, Chris Russo is busy looking like a total badass. Photo courtesy Chris Russo
Alicia Woodside Contributor As a young hacker with a track record of cracking some of the most well-known websites on the internet, every day brings Chris Russo something new and unexpected. Within the first month of 2011, Russo found himself wrapped up in the centre of a major publicity storm that pitted him against the founder of the world’s largest free dating website, PlentyOfFish. In the media, Chris was villainized, described as a threat to security who had exposed PlentyOfFish’s 30,000,000 members. It’s not the first time he has stirred controversy with a major website. Just six months earlier, in July 2010, Russo hacked Pirate Bay, making a name for himself with his reported ability to access four million accounts’ worth of user data. At his home in Buenos Aires, during a Skype interview, Russo paints a picture of the 23 years that led up to his worldwide
notoriety. While his youthfulness is frequently mention in the media, reports rarely note that Russo already has over a decade of experience. Russo got his own computer when he was only eight and began to teach himself programming by reading forums. “I [found] I could communicate with computers better than I could with humans,” he said. But his first introduction to the world of hacking came through romance. “I had a discussion with the girl I was dating, so I got interested in hacking her email account. I guess that was the way I started with security-related topics,” Russo said. After that, he founded and ran several different underground communities before heading off to university, where he studied to become a software engineer at Argentina’s Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. But like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, a university degree wasn’t in the cards. “I was wasting my time... So I just didn’t go back [to
university] one day,” said Russo. The years of self-teaching were a big factor. “I already had the technical knowledge in programming that was interesting for me in the career, so I decided to quit and focus directly on my own business.” This led him to create Insilence, an internet-penetration testing business which has grown to employ five researchers. Today, the word “hacker” has a negative connotation, one that evokes viruses, information theft and fear. Russo is often portrayed as a villain in the media. For example, a February 11 article in the Financial Post said, “Chris Russo must have had some bad online dating experiences. Less than two weeks after the self-described ‘security researcher’ based in Argentina accessed the Vancouver-based online dating website PlentyOfFish, it now appears he has set his sights on eHarmony, a similar web-based romance provider.” However, Russo explained that he has come under fire because
of a stereotype fabricated by Hollywood dramas in the 1990s. He insisted that, unlike the movies, there are distinct types of hackers. “A hacker is basically a person with advanced technical knowledge. This doesn’t mean that everyone who’s into hacking is a criminal.” He added, “You, as a hacker, can provide services to companies seeking ... security solutions, release public advisories, create tools in order to expose a certain vulnerability—or sell services to underground communities, develop malware or viruses, sell stolen information or even steal money from others. ... This isn’t something related to the profession itself, but the ethics and education of the person. It’s mostly like the difference between a policeman and a thief. The fact that you have skills aiming a gun or analyzing weak points in a structure doesn’t mean that you’ll necessarily use such skills to cause harm.” So where does Russo stand? Is he a cop or a robber?
While the Pirate Bay hack stirred allegations that Chris profited from selling information about users’ downloads on the site, he publicly denied selling the information. “The Pirate Bay hack was closely linked to a government, that’s all I can say.” In the case of PlentyOfFish, Russo’s actions take a wildly different plot line, depending on the source of the information. When asked about the incident in person one month later, he said, “I didn’t hack into PlentyOfFish. What we did was reporting a security vulnerability to its owner, just like we regularly do when we find something vulnerable on the web ... Many people [think] that hackers like us break into the security of the site, but the reality is that we never broke into it, we just informed about the potential risk of a website running like that. “If you were a firefighter, and you saw a fire on the street, you would stop to put it out, wouldn’t you?” U
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finance
editor TREVOR RECORD » features@ubyssey.ca GUEST EDITOR ANNA KOUZOVLEVA » s.else@ubyssey.ca
Welcome to the Finance Supplement Anna Kouzovleva Guest Editor
courtesy of anna kouzovleva
As much as all of us dread being reminded of our finances, a reality check is bound to hit us hard at one point or another, especially in our current, vulnerable state of transition from living in the nest to independent lives as adults. Thus, it is important to prepare yourself as a student for future financial decision making. We decided to prepare this issue for all of you, as a useful
Credit Card Smarts Anna Kouzovleva Guest Editor One of a student’s best friends is, without a doubt, a credit card. How else do you pay next month’s rent if the allocated amount was “accidentally” spent shopping at Metrotown last weekend? Indeed, it is almost too convenient to spend money that we do not have using our credit cards. As harmless as it may seem at first, credit card abuse can lead to serious financial consequences that can impact the rest of your life. First things first, credit cards are certainly useful and have countless advantages, including convenience, rewards and money back options, among others. Yet reminding ourselves about their risks is imperative if we want to avoid debt. The average credit card interest is around 14.6 per cent, according to creditcards.com. Doesn’t seem like a lot to you? Well, consider this example. If you have around $10,000 in credit card debt and make monthly payments of $200 dollars, it will take you around nine years to pay off your debt. This is a total payment of twice the original amount! Gently put, one purchase can grow into a quite a responsibility. If this risk is not enough, one of the more significant problems caused by credit card misuse is bad credit history. This, in turn, can lead to problems with future financing for loans and mortgages, along with other financing options that are necessary for important purchases such as vehicles and real estate. So just remember that your next “necessary” trip to Whistler purchased on your credit card is a potential barrier to your becoming a home owner. How is that for a reality check? But fear not; your future financial position is in your hands. All it takes is for you to be careful and conscientious about your spending and credit card usage. To start you off, here are a few rules to follow: 1. Never spend an amount that you do not actually have or plan to receive in your bank account within the due date of your credit card payment. This prevents build up of high-interest debt. UBC Commerce Professor Emeritus Steve Hamilton has some simple advice for students who are spending too much. “Put that card at the bottom of your drawer and don’t take it
reference for your student related financing. This is just the first step to becoming acquainted with organizing your money. However, keep in mind that the valuable tips of fellow students can be a solid foundation to becoming financially literate individuals. There are many places to start when it comes to keeping track of your money and in this issue we want to present just some of the possibilities. After reading this issue, students will find out that saving
money can be a pleasant experience, especially since much of the advice our writers offer involves freebies. It is astounding that many students have not the slightest idea about easy moneysaving tricks that can aid in keeping finances on track. Hence, as the editor of the Finance Issue, I feel the obligation to inform students of easy yet effective steps to gain a solid understanding of their money options. I hope that this issue will be a valuable starting-off point
for students who are looking to make smart financial decisions. Also, I hope it brings awareness about the subject to students who have little interest in their finances. My goal is to convey that personal financial responsibility can be rewarding and easy with a little research. In this issue, we have conducted much of the beginning research for you, so get ready to start making life-changing financial decisions. U
A beginner’s guide to investing Amelia Waiz Contributor
out until you’ve reined in your spending,” he said. 2. Pay your balances on time!
The easiest way to avoid outrageous interest, is to simply pay off your credit card on or before the due date. It would be a shame to pay a few extra dollars each month, just because you were being lazy to either walk to the bank or, use easy online banking.
3. If you are desperate for mon-
ey, there are alternatives to the credit card. “You’re going to want to talk to the bank and tell them that you’re a student and tell them about what debts you currently have,” said UBC Accounting Professor Joy Begley. “Ask them what they can do to help maybe move that credit card debt over into a line of credit or something else that would have a lower rate of interest. Then work on some plan to repay it, either a little bit every week if you have a job or to plan to repay it off in the summer with a summer job.”
4. Avoid paying the minimum
payment; instead, always pay the full balance. If you pay off only the minimum, interest will accumulate on the rest of your balance. After a few periods, you will end up paying interest on your interest. Doesn’t sound too appealing, does it? “The ideal way to use a credit card is to pay it off every month,” said Begley. “If you pay it off every month, then you don’t pay the very high rates of interest.”
If you follow these golden rules, then you can actually benefit from credit card usage. For example, a credit card can save money if it offers money back options or points. Just be prudent in training your credit card habits, and the benefits will quickly outweigh the drawbacks. U
As a student, planning your study schedule for exams can feel more urgent t han planning your long-term financial future, but taking a moment to review your options for investment is more than worthwhile. If you are curious about this topic, here are some risks and benefits to consider when deciding what form of investment is right for you. Tax Free Saving Accounts U BC C om mer c e P r ofes sor Emeritus Steve Hamilton ranks using a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) as a “commonsense” move. A TFSA is a new type of savings account where you can contribute a maximum of $5,000 a year. It’s different from a regular savings account in that you will not be taxed on the interest earned within the account, even if you decide to withdraw it. Funds from these accounts can be invested through a wide range of met hods, allowing for tax-free growth. If you do not contribute the maximum amount in a certain year, the unused amount can be contributed in a later year. There are fees, however, if the money is withdrawn more than a certain amount of times per month, depending on the bank. Budgeting for investments Hamilton said investing about five per cent of your income as soon as you have a cheque coming in is advisable, with the goal of meeting the $5000 limit of a TFSA. “I’d [invest] monthly because I know if I do it at the end of the year, I’ll procrastinate. I’ll decide to go out and buy football tickets... or go on a trip to Seattle. Let’s get on these things month after month. Just make it a habit.” Joy Begley, a UBC accounting professor, said that learning to budget early on will help students later in life, when they have more monthly expenses. “It’s a good time in your life to try to get some practice at managing your money, before you’re out there buying houses and cars and things like that.”
geoff lister photo/the ubyssey
Low-risk options
Higher-risk options
with mutual funds varies. For all the low-risk options your investment can only increase, but with mutual funds there is risk because of the stock market. This added risk is balanced out by the possibility of greater returns. However, Hamilton warns against creeping fees. “You’ve got to watch the expensive ratio. They call it the MRE, the management expense ratio. Right now there are a lot of funds that go charging anywhere between 1.75 and 2.5 per cent.” Saving for real estate is also an often overlooked investment plan. However, Hamilton said that the rewards are well worth the high risk, so long as you are careful not to buy a property beyond your means. “My goal at a young age is save enough money to buy a principal residence, whether it is a condo or a house, but get a principal residence,” said Hamilton. “It’s a taxfree investment, it gets you in the habit of saving because you take on mortgage with regular monthly payments. I think it just has so many virtues for a young person.” If these options sound interesting to you, talk to your bank—they would be happy to help someone who is taking initiative in financial planning. U
If you choose mutual funds, your money is pooled with other investors—and managed, for a fee, by a professional investment fund manager. The level of risk
If you have contributed to a Registered Retirement Savings plan (RRSP), the money within it can be put into any of the above investments except a TFSA.
There are a number of options for investing that bear low risks such as term deposits, bonds and guaranteed investments. With a term deposit, the money you invest is locked in for a certain period of time. After that period it can be withdrawn or kept for another term. Longer periods tend to yield greater returns. Guaranteed Investment Certificates (GICs) will give you a guaranteed rate of return over a fixed period of time. GICs are more flexible than term deposits—you can redeem them at anytime. Canada Savings Bonds offer a low risk, low return, secure investment that is guaranteed by the government of Canada. The interest rate will change periodically according to the central bank’s intervention. Hamilton suggests that for starting investors, the low risk options may not make as much sense as the higher risk options due to their comparatively low yields. “If you’re 20 years old with $5000 out and you lose it all, you have a lifetime to make it up.”
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Going on exchange: how to plan ahead Jasmine Shum Contributor You’re going on exchange! After all the anticipation and excitement of discovering your partner school, you’ll realize that the best things in life are not always free. Living abroad can—but doesn’t have to—be expensive. You will surely want to discover the best that your new city has to offer, as well as do some traveling. So, to make sure you’ll survive during your time abroad, it is best to create a monthly budget. First things first—let’s start with the basics. Categories to include in your budget are the following: tuition, rent, travel, transportation, health and life insurance, food, phone, personal and emergency. “You should firstly determine what the trouble costs would be,” said UBC accounting professor Joy Begley. “In this case, look online at airfares and then you want to think about what your accommodations are going to be.” Once you have your expenses planned (either on paper or, better yet, an Excel spreadsheet) you need to figure out how to allocate your money. Straightaway you can account for the fixed items such as rent and tuition. Figuring out how much you will be spending in the other categories is where it may get tricky. To make your budget as accurate as possible, do some research beforehand. Ask around or look on the internet to see how much groceries will be each month or how much a phone will cost. Then you can do a rough estimate of your needs.
Make a budget before you leave when going on exchange. Melissa gray photo/the ubyssey
A Few budget Tips Be realistic—it is important to be realistic from the beginning so you aren’t disappointed (or starving) in the end. Are you sure you’ll only be eating 50 euros worth of food per month, while spending thousands traveling? Didn’t think so. If you’re realistic from the start you won’t have to worry about running out of money at the end of your exchange. “You’re going to have to think about what your daily costs are going to be,” said Begley. “So you’ll have to keep a budget for food and for travel within the area in which you are visiting. And for incidental costs.” Make sure check out the UBC Go Global web site, www.students.ubc. ca/global. In addition to a checklist for getting prepared, they have
budgeting tools for students considering going on exchange. Know your travel options for when you arrive—if you’re in Europe, websites such as SkyScanner.net or RyanAir.com will help you find the best deals on flights. Also, consider alternatives to flying, such as trains or buses. Eurolines.com offers super cheap deals—20 euro round trip from Rotterdam to London? I’ll take it! Another option: get some friends together and rent a car. Nothing beats a good old fashioned road trip. Tips for once you’re there Once you’re there, meet the locals—they can direct you to discount shops and weekly markets
and all that other good stuff that we foreigners don’t know about. This is especially useful if you are not familiar with your new country’s native language. Don’t get ripped off because you are written off as some dumb tourist! Always ask for a student discount, because often student discounts are offered at museums and theatres, etc. It doesn’t work every time but it never hurts to ask! Every time you make a purchase, write it down—it sounds tedious, but it is very helpful. Recording your expenses will enable you to compare your actual costs to your budgeted costs, helping you to make adjustments later on. Additionally, seeing your purchases on paper will make you think more about the way you spend
and affect where you choose to put your money in the future. Think before you buy and if there’s something you MUST get because you “can’t get this at home,” be aware that you may have to spend hundreds of dollars shipping it back or you might have to leave it behind. Is it still worth it? At the beginning of your exchange you will want to be a tourist and experience a new city so you might be spending a little more freely than you would at home. But don’t be in vacation mode all the time! You’re living abroad, you’re not on holiday! Be aware of how much you’re spending but remember that it’s fine to pamper yourself once in a while. U
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Shopping Wise Groceries can be very costly for students on budgets who live on their own. Although chains provide an easy source for everyday shopping, in order to save money it is necessary to shop at several different locations to save money.
Budgeting for food
on-campus Freebies If you are anything like an average UBC student, chances are you are on a tight budget. Even if that is not the case, there is no doubt that you love anything that’s labeled “free,” especially when it comes to nutrition. Here are several pieces of advice for those on the quest for complimentary food:
Shop small Small grocery stores on Broadway, West 4th and Main Street often have better prices on produce than the grocery chains, even during the winter months. I shop at East West Market on Main Street, where they have two-for-one sales on normally expensive items such as almond milk and organic soup. Bananas are usually ten to twenty cents cheaper than if purchased at Safeway, whereas apples can be up to a dollar cheaper. And these small shops usually have everyday sales on main grocery items, including dairy and frozen foods.
1. Mark Off Weekly Indulgences In Your Calendar
The campus is full of hidden treasures. Free food can be found at AMS Council Meetings every Wednesday night at 6pm in Council Chambers. In addition, hitting up Community Eats (put on by Sprouts in SUB Room 66) should become a Friday afternoon ritual for those in search of a hot, nutritious and, most importantly, free meal. Don’t forget to bring your own plate and utensils. Ubyssey volunteers who come to help out on production nights on Wednesdays and Sundays in The Ubyssey’s office are also given a free meal.
Shop in bulk Buying items in bulk like dried fruit, pasta, flour, spices, herbs, nuts and snacks is cheaper than buying those same items already packaged. The packaged price is usually double or triple the amount paid for a bulk item. The Real Canadian Superstore offers great deals on cases of canned soup and vegetables, juice, Kraft Dinner and granola bars. Split the spoils with a roommate if it is too much for you. Also, the T&T in Chinatown sells cheap bulk packages of rice noodles and produce. Even Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs have great deals on snack food, pasta and frozen meals. If you have—or have access to someone who has—a Costco membership, their deals are usually quite good too. Cheap meat “I only shop at Price Mart because they have inexpensive good quality pork, chicken and produce,” third-year sociology major Ryan Chu claimed. Inexpensive meat can also be found at Safeway and Save-On Foods as well, starting at around $1.99 per pound. It is also helpful to look at Save-On Foods, Safeway and the Real Canadian Superstore’s online flyers before going shopping so that grocery lists can be plotted out and impulse shopping cut down. U —Chelsea Sweeney
2. Follow Free Food UBC Online
Financial cleanup on aisle three. charles to Photo/The Ubyssey
Cutting costs: Eating out and coffee Kait Bolongaro Contributor Have you ever calculated the amount of money you spend on coffee or tea t hroughout the year? What about on lunch at the SUB? A major hidden cost in the student budget is eating out. The sandwich special at the Pendulum costs $6.95 and includes a small green salad. The cost of this sandwich would be enough to buy meat, cheese, lettuce and bread for four or five sandwiches at the grocery store. That means $27.80 in savings in one week by bringing a sandwich from home. “If you are living on a fairly tight budget, you are going to want to limit the number of times you eat out,” said UBC accounting professor Joy Begley. “Eating in is usually cheaper, just going to the grocery store and buying the ingredients and just cooking it at home. You’re going to also have to be realistic about how much you’re
going to spend on your social activities.” For those dead-set on eating in the SUB, The Pendulum does offer a 25 cent discount when using personal take-out containers. The Delly in the SUB also offers 50 per cent discounts on all food after 3pm on Fridays and most of the food lasts several days. Another major budget blow can be coffee. According to the Coffee Association of Canada website, 63 per cent of Canadian adults drink coffee on a daily basis. While 66 per cent is consumed at home, a full 16 per cent of coffee is purchased from speciality coffee shops. As individual purchases, the number may seem insignificant. When looking at the total cost, however, it can be staggering. Fortunately, with proper budgeting and preparation this amount can be trimmed. Coffee, in particular from high-end cafés, takes up a significant portion of a student’s budget. If one spends $2 on a
coffee every school day for 32 weeks, the final total is $320. A decent coffee maker from Walmart starts at $30 and a can of coffee at Save-On Foods is $6. This equals a total savings of at least $200 over the school year. Still need the specialty drink? Bring your own mug. Blue Chip offers a 25 cent discount on every drink purchased with a personal mug. A not her idea for c of fee drinkers is to switch to tea, which is about half the price of specialty coffees. The Boulevard gives free hot water with your own mug and tea bag, while hot water is 25 cents at Ike’s in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. There is also free coffee and tea at the Simon K.Y. Lee Global Lounge at Marine Drive Residence. By brewing coffee at home and packing a lunch, a student could potentially save hundreds of dollars over the 32week school year. Even by simply bringing a reusable mug or container, students can save. U
Believe it or not, there is a group of brilliant students who have it as their mission to reveal the campus-wide freebies available to each and every student. @freefoodubc and www.freefoodubc.wordpress.com should keep you updated on the latest deals. 3. Know Your Campus Food Deals
Make it a rule for yourself to walk by a Starbucks every morning, be it in the SUB or Fred Kaiser. Often, samples of a newly-introduced torte or scone will be available to passersby. Moreover, remember that with the new AMS Coffee Card, after ten coffees purchased at AMS businesses in a re-usable mug, you will receive the next medium cuppa joe for free. 4. Check UBC Events
Subscribe to AMS clubs’ newsletters and follow www. events.ubc.ca. You will uncover numerous opportunities to avoid paying for your lunch. With these tips, you are bound to save a few bucks, which in turn can later be spent on cheap Pit beer specials. If you are vigilant enough, you may even score the “perfect week” of food served gratis. Happy hunting! U —Paulina Aksenova
Need a job? Find work on campus Kelsea O’Connor Contributor Working while studying is often unavoidable for many students. However, UBC offers Work Study and Work Learn programs that offer on-campus jobs with f lexible hours, a competitive wage and career-related work experience. Work Study positions are avai lable for domest ic students who are taking at least nine credits. International undergraduates can apply to the Work Learn program, open to full-time students who have a study permit. Both Work Study and Work Learn positions have a limit of ten hours per week, offering flexible work hours based around students’ class schedules, with average wages from $13-$18 per hour. According to the Career Services website (careers.ubc.ca), Work Study/Learn positions include clerical and lab positions, library assistance jobs and event planning. It’s a great way to get involved at UBC, earn some career-related skills and
Work Study and Work Learn offer flexible employment for UBC students. jonathan chiang Photo/The Ubyssey
supplement your income while on campus. For the winter term, positions are posted in August through October, while summer jobs begin being posted in April on the Career Services website. Apply early—they fill up fast! Donna Chin, managing editor at Canadian Literature, an on-campus academic journal, has hired Work Study and CoOp students for nearly ten years.
“It’s a good way for students to learn job skills and pay for their studies at the same time,” she said. Chin observed that it’s economical for the employer to hire a Work Study student because of the subsidy they receive from UBC, making it a win-win situation for both employers and students. Angela, a fourth-year dietetics student who asked that her last
name be omitted, has worked as a clerical assistant through the Work Study program for three years. “[Work Study/Learn] employers are more in touch with being a student [than a regular employer],” she said. “Having a job on campus is so convenient.” Juggling work and school can be tough, so Angela doesn’t mind the ten-hour limit. She notes “It’s
a good break from school and adds variety to a study-heavy day.” Besides Work Study/Learn, there are several options for on-campus work. Positions with AMS-run businesses in the SUB, the UBC Bookstore, Student Housing & Hospitality Services, Food Services and the businesses at UBC and Wesbrook Village offer the convenience of working on campus. The advantage for this form of employment is that there are usually no restrictions on how many hours you can work. Peak hiring times are before the start of new school terms (August/ December). Susan Pan, a fourth-year food, nutrition & health student, works at the UBC Aquatic Centre front desk. “I like that you can work in between classes; they understand if it’s just for two hours,” she said. Pan likes that there’s no travel time between work and school and that she can work as often as she wants. U Visit careers.ubc.ca to learn more about working on campus.
2011.03.03/ubyssey.ca/advertisement/9
10 / u b y s s e y. c a / g a m e s / 2 0 11 . 0 3 . 0 3
games & comics sazaemon, by meiki shu sudoku (very easy)
comicmaster, by maria cirstea
blundergrads, by phil flickinger (blundergrads.com)
solution
Submit your comics to our website at ubyssey.ca/volunteer/ submit-a-comic. virginie menard | production@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
Every Wednesday and Sunday we have production, which means free dinner for anyone who volunteers. Come to the SUB Room 24 and get crackin’. justin mcelroy | coordinating@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
2011.03.03/u byssey.ca /opinions/11
opinions
do you care? WRITE US A LETTER » feedback@ubyssey.ca
editorial the ubyssey needs YOU! We’ve mentioned before that The Ubyssey has teamed up with the AMS and others on next week’s referendum question on student fees, which would raise our student levy from $5 to $6. Next Monday we’ll be deluging you with information about why this is a good thing, but today we’d like to explain why we’re asking for a $1 fee increase and what we would do with it. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” And while Charlie Sheen, conscience of America, recently called Jefferson “a pussy,” we think the author of the US Constitution had a good point. A free and vibrant press is needed in any community. It informs. It entertains. It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. And though a campus newspaper does all of this—sometimes well, sometimes less so—The Ubyssey is more than that. We’re a place that has trained dozens upon dozens of Canada’s finest journalists. In the last three years, we’ve won more national awards than any other campus paper in the country. We’re a historical record of what and who this campus is year after year. Most of all, we’re a paper that is truly the voice of students, produced by over 200 of you each year, the majority of whom are volunteers. And while we’ve been around since 1918, it was only in 1995 that students voted to make us a financially autonomous organization, with a $5 student fee. In the 16 years since, we haven’t once asked for a fee increase. We are now. Here’s why. First, we want to ensure our fiscal solvency. Are we in danger of losing an AMS-level amount of money? No. But this is still an increase that we’re going to need sooner rather than later. In the last 15 years, the cost to print paper has gone up and salaries have slowly increased. We’ve also invested in webmasters and video editors, as the internet has become integral to what we do. If our fees were tied to inflation, they would be at around $6.50 per student right now. Instead, we’ve stayed at $5. And if you know anything about newspapers, you know that the advertising market hasn’t been great to us over the last decade, so while we’ve upgraded in what we do online, we’ve had to make corresponding cuts to other services. An increase to $6, with annual CPI increases, will ensure that we can continue our current level of services year after year. This extra money isn’t just about ensuring the stability of what we have, though. It’s about building for the future and meeting the needs of today’s students. In the last decade, the number of students taking summer classes has increased by thousands. UBC is no longer a little ghost town from May to August. Because of that, we’d like to provide The Ubyssey for all 12 months of the year, with a reduced staff printing issues every two weeks from May to August, while keeping our website updated. We want to serve students who work, live and study here during the summer and if the referendum passes, we can do that. In addition, a dollar increase would also allow UBC to have the first campus newspaper that truly embraces the internet. We’re talking daily updates, increased online-exclusive stories, more of our awesome videos—things students deserve and we want to provide. The increase would give us the resources necessary to do that. That’s our promise to you if this passes. We know we aren’t always perfect, but we’re by all measurements one of the best university papers in Canada and we’d like to keep it that way for some time to come. So if you’re someone who enjoys reading us regularly in print and zealously online, or someone who enjoys having something to read during breakfast in Vanier and lunch in the SUB, please vote for the fee increase next week. It’s a vote that shows your appreciation for who we are. More importantly, it’s an investment in what we can become. U
bryce warnes graphic/the ubyssey
opinions
Katic: Students shouldn’t accept tuition increases Gordon Katic Columnist In one day, four students collected almost 1200 signatures in support of a referendum that would implore the AMS to lobby for reduced domestic and international tuition fees. On March 7, you’ll be able to decide. Will our student union fight for affordable education, or will they continue to acquiesce to soaring fees and bloated debt? The old adage that says “education is the one thing a person is willing to pay for and not get” seems to be a maxim among those deciding AMS tuition policy. Our representatives have the impression that we’d like to continue paying more for less. Students are paying unprecedented tuition for a deteriorating standard of education. In Canada, tuition fees have grown more than four-fold over the past two decades. They have significantly outpaced the rise in food, shelter and inflation, and now account for the single largest expenditure for
many students. In the same time period, class sizes have soared as the ratio of students to faculty has increased by almost 40 per cent. As a result, Canadians lag behind most industrialized nations in PhD graduates. We often hear that there is no money, but these arguments are demonstrably false. The issue is not money, but priorities. Despite the wishes of a vast majority of Canadians, our government has privileged expensive corporate tax cuts and costly deficit reduction over post-secondary education. They fail to recognize that education offers a tremendous return on investment. A recent OECD report has found that funding post-secondary education has a “direct public benefit” of over $100,000 per person, exceeding the cost by $62,141. However, we have lagged behind other OECD countries in educational investment, and our proportion of GDP dedicated to education has decreased significantly. The average university operating revenue consisted of 80 per cent public
funding just three decades ago, but that number is now less than 50 per cent. In response, two parties have footed the bill: students and the corporate world. Canadian students are working more than ever, and Canadian universities are among the most privatized of OECD countries. Nearly half of all students work during their school year, a percentage almost twice as high an increase of almost double from 1976. Studies have shown that students are feeling unbearable levels of stress from jugging work, school and their social lives. Moreover, the burden of school debt has forced many to pursue less than ideal careers, and prevented others from taking rewarding internships and volunteer positions. Despite the views of a significant majority of students (and eight out of ten Canadians), our student union continues to support annual tuition increases. However, on March 7 you can force their hand by voting in favor of the tuition referendum. U
letters In the February 24 article “AMS pushes forward with fee restructure,” the AMS claims that if the new fee structure isn’t passed, the society will be forced to reorganize, or even shut down. If you investigate the numbers, this claim fails logic, and for you—student—I’ve done the math. At the beginning of the fiscal year, AMS passed a balanced budget, relying on a $900,000 contribution from AMS businesses. As early as July, it was known this projection would not be reached, and the AMS would have to cut spending. Unfortunately, Council was unwilling to act until a new projection was made (on November 26). The projection was a $204,000 shortfall, offset by $64,000 in spending reductions. Subtracting, we find out AMS is now projecting a $140,000 deficit this year. To handle the $140,000 deficit, the AMS is proposing $800,000 in new student fees (in the ‘Fees’ question
on the referendum) and threatening a shutdown if they don’t get what they want. We went on to discuss the controversial “Sustainability Projects Fund”, and any plans the AMS has for what would be a $100,000 fund (if passed with the ‘Fees’ question on the referendum). Elin [Tayyar, VP Finance] explained that there is currently no plan for what the money might be used for, only that he would be attempting to have at least half of the fund’s board be students-atlarge, although it would likely consist of Council members and corporate representatives. I urge every student to investigate the proposed fee structure, and vote NO on the ‘Fees’ question when they find the “accountability gap” Elin and I uncovered. —Nick Frank Chair, No Campaign
Would you like to say something about the referendum that Nick Frank or Jeremy McElroy haven’t said yet? Send us a letter under 300 words by Sunday at noon. Send all letters to feedback@ubyssey.ca.
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