October 27, 2011 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XVI
Smacking the ham SINCE 1918
HALLOWEEN
IS HERE Haven’t gone on your annual costume hunt? Columnist Bryce Warnes offers his picks for Halloween 2011
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U
HARRY
THE UBYSSEY POTTER WOULD
CRUSHING
BE PROUD P5
THE
COMPETITION
Bookstore told toy supplier to cut out AMS Outpost
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WHAT ARE
YOU
DOING HALLOWEEN WEEKEND? Event listings, parties and everything else going on this weekend
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SKATE
UBC P5
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What’s on 27 THU
This week, may we suggest...
Our Campus
One on one with the people who make UBC
Spacciante: UBC’s guide en America del Sur
MUSIC >>
Kalyeena Makortoff News Editor
Blank Vinyl Project Launch: 8pm @ Lola’s Bar
The BVP Launch Party is a fundraiser for student record label Blank Vinyl Project. They’ll be announcing their next featured artists. They’d like it awfully if you joined them at Lola’s and meet some of their next up-andcoming musicians as well as the crew that will be running the place in the background. (Full disclosure: this is partially Ben Chen’s project and he sells ads for us).
28 FRI
CVC >>
30 SUN
ITALY >>
CVC Halloween Thrilla: 8:30 @ Gossip The CVC is doing a Halloween thing. It’s at a club downtown. Tickets are $25 for non members. I guess if you don’t want to have a totally awesome night on campus (as detailed on pages 8-9) maybe you could go to this?
29
SAT SPORTS >>
Football vs. Calgary: 2pm @ Thunderbird Stadium The second place ‘Birds take on the first place Calgary Dinos. They have to win this to get a home playoff game. If they fail, they let down the small town in Texas that pins its hopes and dreams to their CIS victory. Seriously, this is some Friday Night Lights shit.
31 MON
Ludovico Einaudi: 8pm at the Chan Centre Einaudi is an Italian composer and pianist who absolutely tears it up. I mean, look at this guy. Rock star. Tickets start at $35.
HALLOWEEN >> Halloween! Again, see page 8 and 9 for our Halloween coverage. Seriously, it’s the most fun you’ll have on campus since first week.
U
For a full listing of campus halloween parties, see pages 8—9
THE UBYSSEY October 27, 2011, Volume XCIII, Issue XVI
EDITORIAL
Coordinating Editor Justin McElroy
coordinating@ubyssey.ca
Managing Editor, Print Jonny Wakefield printeditor@ubyssey.ca
Managing Editor, Web Arshy Mann webeditor@ubyssey.ca
News Editors Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan news@ubyssey.ca
Art Director Geoff Lister
art@ubyssey.ca
Culture Editor Ginny Monaco
Copy Editor Karina Palmitesta
CONTACT
copy@ubyssey.ca
Business Office: Room 23 Editorial Office: Room 24 Student Union Building 6138 Student Union Blvd Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 tel: 604.822.2301 web: www.ubyssey.ca
Video Editor David Marino
video@ubyssey.ca
Senior Web Writer Andrew Bates abates@ubyssey.ca
webmaster@ubyssey.ca
BUSINESS
Senior Culture Writers Taylor Loren & Will Johnson
Ad Sales Ben Chen
tloren@ubyssey.ca wjohnson@ubyssey.ca
STAFF
sports@ubyssey.ca
features@ubyssey.ca
Business Office:
604.822.6681 advertising@ubyssey.ca
feedback@ubyssey.ca
ijoel@ubyssey.ca
Webmaster Jeff Blake
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604.822.1654
Graphics Assistant Indiana Joel
culture@ubyssey.ca
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Print Advertising:
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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
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 signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will be checked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office of The Ubyssey; otherwise verification will be done by phone. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions for length and clarity. All letters must be received by 12 noon the day before intended publication. Letters received after this point will be published in the following issue unless there is an urgent time restriction or other matter deemed relevant by the Ubyssey staff. It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ad.
Many teachers plan day-long field trips to the local park or museum— but imagine taking over 25 students on a six-week trip to South America every year. That’s what Stephanie Spacciante does, and she admits it can be an all-encompassing job. “You’re their professor, you’re their nurse, you’re their mom, and sometimes they come to confession and they tell you everything,” she said. Spacciante is UBC’s Summer Study Abroad director for the department of French, Hispanic and Italian studies’ (FHIS) programs in South America. Throughout her early life, Spacciante was exposed to French and Portuguese, and grew up in an Italian family, but her heart strings were pulled by the Spanish language. Double majoring in political science and Spanish, Spacciante was swept off her feet after a semester abroad in Mexico in her undergrad and decided to stay abroad after the program finished. Her family was shocked and worried, but she knew she had done the right thing. Once she returned home to Washington State, she began Spanish night courses for adults at her community centre and was an on-call translator for the local courthouse. She finally began teaching at the post-secondary level for abroad programs through South Carolina’s Clemson University, and spent six months of every year teaching students who chose to study abroad in Chile. In 2005,
PHOTO COURTESY STEPHANIE SPACCIANTE
Spacciante at the Quilotoa Volcano in Ecuador last summer.
after nine years at Clemson, Spacciante came to UBC and began running FHIS’s study abroad program in countries like Ecuador, Chile, Argentina and Cuba. While Chile is her favourite destination, her most unique experiences came from visiting communist Cuba in 2006. Students weren’t allowed to stay with host families and the group had a chaperone for the entire trip. Despite the lack of independent travel, they were able to find their way to a speech by Fidel Castro that ended up lasting eight hours. “We all had a front row seat… right there right in front of Fidel Castro, she said.” This year she’ll be returning to Chile for the fourth time in the FHIS program.
When she’s not abroad, Spacciante is a Spanish lecturer at UBC. She said that her life has been enriched by the experience, but it’s still a challenging transition to make every year. And she still gets culture shock. “It is difficult; you have to leave behind your family, your friends, your activities. Your life here is put on hold while you go to South America,” Spacciante said. Spacciante has had students marry locals, stay in the countries they visited, and get caught in natural disasters. “And many told me they came back and they started giving away their stuff because they wanted to live with less,” she said. “They change their majors, they make life-changing decisions and they become global citizens.” U
News
10.27.2011 |
3
Editors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan
INTERNATIONAL >>
Premier Clark’s plan on track with current UBC international initiatives Dominic Lai Staff Writer
Premier Christy Clark aims to increase international students in the province by 50 per cent—but UBC’s current plans won’t be affected. Last month, Clark announced a policy to boost provincial GDP and create new jobs by increasing the number of international students enrolled in BC by 47,000 students in four years. But according to Damara
Klaassen, associate director of the UBC International Student Initiative (ISI), the new plan will not change the university’s direction. Klaassen stated that the ISI, which is responsible for increasing international undergraduate students, has been “active in [China and India] but not just recently, and certainly not just because of that document.” According to the BC government, each 10 per cent boost in international student enrollment creates an
additional $100 million in GDP, and supports an additional 1800 new jobs. The plan identifies China and India as countries which the province will target aggressively. “It definitely has been a focus for a while, along with other big funding regions like the United States. Brazil is up and coming, but various regions in Asia and Europe as well,” said Klaassen. UBC’s target for international undergraduates is to increase the amount from 13 to 15 per cent of
total enrollment. However, comments left on media comment boards suggest there are many concerns about whether domestic students will be impacted by the provincial push. This led UBC President Stephen Toope to issue a letter in The Vancouver Sun that addressed those concerns. He wrote that no domestic students will be displaced or negatively impacted by the increase in international students. Shapoor Marfatia, an economist
at UBC, welcomed the news that the university is already set to increase the number of international students. “More students in Asia are now looking at Canada as an education and migration destination after the recent developments in Australia, the USA and the UK.” However, Marfatia remained positive about the economic benefits of the plan if it is implemented correctly. “If the plan works, we can double the number of international students in two to three years. From
AQUATIC CENTRE >>
SECURITY >>
Will McDonald
Surveillance cameras to be installed in SUB
Outdoor pool asks users to pay up Staff Writer
Those wishing to use the UBC Aquatic Centre’s outdoor pool this winter are out of luck, unless they belong to a student group that’s willing to pay up. On October 14, the outdoor pool closed to the public, but the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club (VPSC) is keeping it open to student groups during the school year, as well as to the public during the summer. According to the UBC Aquatic Centre manager Lloyd Campbell, UBC Athletics could no longer afford to run the outdoor pool due to increased operating costs. A remedy for the costs of heating the outdoor pool was attempted in October 2009, when the Aquatic Centre installed a roof over the pool at a cost of $200,000. “It was getting expensive to heat the outdoor pool…Long term, [building the roof] will pay for itself,” said Campbell in an interview with The Ubyssey in September 2010. Despite Campbell’s thoughts at the time, the outdoor pool cost is still too high for the Aquatic Centre to handle itself. The VPSC has since taken financial responsibility for the pool. “The Athletics department was really pleased to allow additional usage via the seasonal outdoor pool cover. However, due to the change in metering and resultant increased cost, it became untenable to run the outdoor pool during the fall/winter season,” said Campbell. “We are very pleased that one of our partners [VPSC] has stepped up to operate the facility so that user
PETER WOJNAR/THE UBYSSEY
Spencer Toffoli Contributor
The outdoor pool is only available to student groups—at a price.
JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY
groups, including students’ user groups [like] UBC Water Polo, UBC Masters and UBC Tri clubs, are able to use the facility,” said Campbell. VPSC head coach Tyler Lewall emphasized the importance of keeping the outdoor pool open for campus swim clubs and teams. “The outdoor pool is the main pool that we use for our members. For us, it was either try to make this work or shut our program down,” said Lewall. “VPSC is the one that’s on the hook for every penny that that pool costs and then we sublet it out to the other groups.”
According to Lewall, the VPSC will have to do a lot of fundraising in order to keep the outdoor pool running year-round. “It will be a challenge. A lot of fundraising will need to go on… It keeps it open to the public for 5 months a year and keeps it open to the 600 or 700 university students and area residents that use the pool all year in their various different clubs,” said Lewall. “We’re going to give her our best shot and hopefully it works out and we can keep this going for the next number of years,” he said. James Baylis, president of the
UBC Water Polo Club, said his club pays $90 an hour to use the outdoor pool for five and a half hours a week, and not much has changed since the VPSC took over the outdoor pool. “Everything’s mostly the same. The difference being we pay the money to VPSC and we are issued invoices monthly, rather than semesterly. “Everything’s great actually. We love the outdoor pool,” said Baylis. According to Campbell, the outdoor pool is traditionally closed from September to May. It will reopen to the public for the summer on May 15. U
New ruling will let UBC stay tight-lipped on Properties Trust
Whitecaps training centre might be built at UBC
Journalism students at UBC win award
BC’s privacy commissioner has ruled that UBC is not obligated to release information about UBC Properties Trust, UBC Research Enterprises and UBC Investment Management Trust, overturning a 2009 ruling which stated that UBC exercised control over these entities. In his ruling, adjudicator Jay Fedorak said, “The relationship between UBC and the three entities does meet the common law test for piercing the corporate veil.” The decision allows the three groups to keep their records private.
The Vancouver Sun reported that the multi-million dollar Whitecaps training centre will either be located on campus or near Burnaby Lake. Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi refused to directly comment, but said it was important for the Whitecaps to have their own permanent training facility soon. “It’s a key part of our moving forward,” said Lenarduzzi in an interview. “As much as the whole player side is obviously very important, we need a proper training facility. Ideally, we’ll know where we’re going by the end of the year.”
Beaty museum names Ecuadorian spider after popular Dr Seuss character
News briefs
An Ecuadorian spider discovered by a UBC researcher now bears the name of a Dr Seuss character. Wayne Maddison of UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum discovered the five millimetre-long adult male jumping spider in 2010. The museum decided to celebrate its first anniversary by running a contest to name the spider. The museum says it received 810 entries, and Tristan Long of Waterloo, Ontario submitted the wining name: “Lorax,” after the titular creature in Dr Seuss’s The Lorax.
UBC journalism students Lisa Hale and Calyn Shaw won two of the six 2011 Jack Webster Student Journalism Awards, which recognize students who have demonstrated dedication to journalism. Each winner receives $2000 towards their tuition. Other winners were Emma Crawford from Langara College, Kimiya Shokoohi from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Carmen Weld from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and Jason Perry from Thompson Rivers University. The Jack Webster Foundation was established in 1986 to encourage excellence in BC journalism. U
Security will be ramped up with new video cameras in the SUB. While the SUB already has security cameras outside at main entrances, after recent thefts in the AMS executive offices, indoor security cameras will be making their debut. Two cameras will be placed near the AMS executive offices and the third would be in the Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC). The cost of three new cameras, recording equipment and installation is estimated at $4000-$5000. Business and Finance Commission chair Anne Kessler said the thefts were mainly in the Student Administration Commission office, which is difficult to monitor because many different people have access to it. The camera in the SASC waiting area was requested by the staff, who said there were times when they felt vulnerable and unsafe. AMS President Jeremy McElroy feels that the cameras in the executive offices could keep employees safe as well. “[The] exec offices have dark winding hallways, out of public view...and so we want to make sure that we are protecting the personal safety of our employees.” The cameras would only be monitored after reported incidents in order to help identify suspects. Both Kessler and McElroy emphasized that student privacy will not be compromised. “If anyone is worried about protection of privacy, we have a very strict policy,” said McElroy. “[The cameras] operate in the background and we use them as reference only.” Only three people in the AMS executive would have access to the cameras. “If something occurs, we’ll be watching it; otherwise, it’s not for public viewing,” said Kessler. U
4 | News | 10.27.2011 ANIMAL RESEARCH>>
Speaker series to address animal research Professors and legal advocates to discuss the use of animals in academia engage in a dialogue about animal research. I think that’s a first step.” Janara herself thinks that while the university has not yet made an effort to deeply reflect on animal research, there has always been the potential to do so. “We believe in UBC. We believe UBC could be a leader actually in demonstrating alternative or new ways to deliberate thoughtfully about what is the right thing to do.” The first panel discussion will take place on Thursday, October 27 at 4:30pm in the Green College Coach House. Five more panels run until March 29, 2012 and the schedule can be found at www.greencollege.ca. Admission is free. U
RJ Reid Contributor
Starting this week, UBC will be able to hear the academic arguments on animal research. The speaker series, called “Bringing the Collective Together: Non-human Animals, Animals, and Practice at the University,” is meant to open discussion around the debated topic of animal research, which has led to public protests at UBC.
Our first motivation was the fact that there was no forum at UBC for discussion.
Laura Janara UBC professor
The series will consist of panel discussions featuring professors from UBC, UVic and Wildfred Laurier University, as well as legal advocates from Vancouver. “Our first motivation was the fact that there was no forum at UBC for discussion; there was no place, no context that people could come together and really carefully talk about this,” said Laura Janara, a political science professor at UBC and the coordinator of the series. A group of students have worked with Janara to organize the series after being inspired by one of
By the numbers
2306 GEOFF LISTER PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY
Laura Janara’s political science seminar on political theory and non-human life helped inspire the speaker series.
Janara’s classes on political theory and non-human life. “We were thinking a lot about what that means for the fact that we are on this campus with nonhuman life,” said Janara. “Who are these non-humans who are on this campus with us and what is going on with them? How are they regulated? How are they governed? And we didn’t know.”
Elisabeth Ormandy is a PhD student in UBC’s animal welfare program in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. In March, she will be speaking about how lab animals are governed differently across jurisdictions. “I am a real advocate for more openness in animal research,” said Ormandy. “A public event like this starts to ask people what they
want. Do people want more openness or is it just one group?” “It begins to open up a dialogue,” said Brian Vincent, director of the protest group STOP UBC Animal Research. “It provides a slight bit of transparency by giving people an opportunity to talk about these issues openly. “I’ll give UBC a lot of credit that they’re permitting their faculty to
Number of people who “like” STOP UBC Animal Research’s facebook page
1509
Number of people who have signed an online petition against UBC’s animal research at STOP’s website
14
Number of months STOP UBC has been active on campus
Protip: try adding soy sauce to popcorn. It’s really good.
Sports
10.27.2011 |
5
Editor: Drake Fenton
UBC Quidditch Club takes flight ‘Birds b-ball improves in preseason tournament
Chloe Sargent Contributor
They didn’t get their brooms from the Nimbus Racing Broom Company; they were purchased from Canadian Tire. Zack van Zanten, president of the UBC Quidditch Club, is not a wizard. He isn’t even a massive Harry Potter fan. Yet every Tuesday at 5pm, he and 20 of the approximately 50 club members run around with brooms between their legs. Van Zanten explained that he really enjoys Muggle Quidditch as a sport, especially for the physical component of it. “It definitely has aspects of a lot of different sports... it is said to be a cross between rugby, dodgeball and track and field. “It’s still really similar to how it is in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter,” van Zanten said. There are three hula-hoops per team and they stand beside each other at various heights: six feet, four and half feet and three feet. Just as in Rowling’s universe, a keeper patrols around to keep attackers at bay. The quaffle (or in Muggle speak, volleyball) is passed between three forwards called chasers, who attempt to throw the balls into the hoops. Every time a chaser scores, their team is awarded ten points. Physical contact is allowed, and players can expect to be smacked by the dodgeballs that the defence— two players called beaters—wield. If you are hit by a dodgeball, which is replacing a bludger, you do not have to go see Madame Pomfrey for a healthy dose of Skele-gro; all you’ll have to do is run back to your team’s hoop before rejoining play. Muggle Quidditch can’t use a magical golden sphere with wings for a snitch; instead, one person dresses all in yellow. This
Kaan Eraslan Contributor
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
A chaser on the UBC Quidditch team looks to score with a quaffle at MacInnes Field.
player-snitch has a tennis ball in a sock tucked into his or her back pocket. Once the two players, called seekers, are covering their eyes, the snitch is released and given ten minutes to run free on campus. The only caveat is that the snitch must stay out of buildings. As soon as the referee knows the snitch is out of sight, the game starts. If neither of the seekers can grab the sock within 10 to 15 minutes, the snitch must come back to the field, where the seekers continue their chase. Other members of the club are more dedicated Potter patriots. Omar Berbar, vice president of marketing, “was choked” when he didn’t get his Hogwarts acceptance letter. Patrick Fuller, vice president and treasurer of the club, remembers a friend on their 11th birthday saying,
“If you don’t see me ever again, I’ve gone to Hogwarts.” Other than enjoying Quidditch, the club has aspirations to expand. “We eventually want to have two separate things: a club and a team,” said van Zanten. UBC wouldn’t be the first university to join the Muggle world of Quidditch. There’s a World Cup in New York, varsity teams in many of the universities in the United States and the International Quidditch Association is on its fourth edition of the rule book. Though slightly behind their counterparts in the United States, the UBC Quidditch Club is growing slowly but surely. With the inordinate amount of Potter fans out there, it is only a matter of time before Muggle Quidditch gets off the ground. U
This weekend at the Thunderbird Classic exhibition tournament at War Memorial Gym, the UBC men’s basketball team proved that winning is a process that comes one step, one game, at a time. After getting routed 83-65 by Wilfred Laurier University on Friday night, the Thunderbirds narrowly escaped the University of Concordia with a 74-71 victory Saturday. But on Sunday the ‘Birds were able to put all the puzzle pieces together, drubbing the University of Memorial Sea-Hawks 101-82. “On day three of a tournament, a lot of the time you just have to bring a lot of energy and it’s tough to do that early in the season playing three games,” said UBC head coach Kevin Hanson. “A lot of our guys did work hard, but we still have a long way to go.” Against Memorial, the ‘Birds gained an advantage early in the first quarter, playing with aggression in the paint and dominating in the rebound department. Forward Graham Bath was UBC’s Windex man, cleaning up the glass for 10 rebounds while chipping in 11 points. At the end of the quarter the T-Birds led 27-17, spurred on by UBC guard Doug Plumb’s 10 point performance. The score gap increased in the following quarters as UBC’s Plumb, Malcolm Williams and Kamar Burke took advantage of Memorial shooting fouls, dropping multiple free throws to keep the Sea-Hawks at bay. After the close victory against Concordia, Hanson said maintaining
possession was an important adjustment that had to be made against Memorial. “We’re really trying to eliminate a lot of turnovers. We still had a lot of turnovers today, but we’re working more on the cognitive side of the game and making better decisions,” he said. Quick decisions and communication were one of the stronger aspects of the ‘Birds game Sunday, as the team played with good chemistry. This couldn’t have been more apparent in the third quarter, when Plumb set up a spectacular alley-oop with Nakai Luyken, who rocked the rim for two points. With a comfortable lead, UBC breezed through the final quarter. Memorial played a more effective offensive game but it came at the cost of their defence, which conceded an abysmal 27 points. The win Sunday showed UBC has a deep roster, with young guns such as Williams and Luyken making a significant impact. “It’s really valuable for our young guys; our freshmen played a lot of minutes this weekend,” said Hanson. “We’re playing without Nathan Yu, who’s with Team Canada at the [Pan American Games]. That’s one less solid player on our depth chart.” With the regular season around the corner, Hanson felt the tournament was good experience for his team. “We got an idea of styles of play we’re going to see later on in the season and playing against different guys. I think it was very valuable for us,” he said. “We saw a lot of fullcourt pressure and different defences that a lot of teams in Canada West don’t play, so it was very beneficial from that standpoint.” U
Unknown to most of campus, UBC is a skateboarding “mecca” Stepan Soroka Contributor
UBC may be a centre of academia, but within its confines, a radically different subculture has emerged— one drawn to the university by its unique architecture. For more than two decades, skateboarders from Vancouver and around the world have made the UBC campus a mandatory destination in their pursuit of skateable terrain. The campus is so uniquely suited for street skating that spots from UBC regularly find their way into major skateboard media, some becoming internationally recognizable. “Your average person has no idea that some of the world’s best skateboarders have been skating the UBC campus every summer for over two decades,” said local sponsored amateur Adam Hopkins. There is a set of 12 stairs adjoining the south end of the computer sciences building. Known as the “Big 12,” it is an obstacle not to be approached lightly. In 2004 it appeared in the US publication, The Skateboard Mag. Winnipeg skater Jason Crolly highlighted a photography feature with a switch ollie down the set. Since then, the stairs have become a proving ground for locals and visitors alike. The Big 12 immediately came to Hopkins’ mind when asked about recognizable skate spots on campus. “The latest example would be [professional] Spencer Hamilton’s
ad of a switch backside flip down the Big 12,” said Hopkins. The set of 14 stairs located in front of Koerner’s Pub is another iconic UBC skate spot. These stairs, along with the wooden handrails extending down either side, have made their way into countless forms of skate media. Internationally renowned skateboarders such as Rick McCrank, Ryan Smith and Paul Machnau have all battled this behemoth.
The world’s best skateboarders have been skating the UBC campus for over two decades. Adam Hopkins Local skater The computer sciences building is also home to what is perhaps the most iconic skate spot on campus. The cement ledges and white railings surrounding the west and south sides of the building have been immortalized in Girl Skateboards’ 1996 video, Mouse. In Mouse, California skateboard legend Eric Koston casually dodges students as he pieces together a fivetrick line. Mouse is not only regarded as a quintessential representation of 1990s skateboarding, but Koston is also one of the most respected skateboarders in the world, dubbed
by some as “the Michael Jordan of street skating.” The covered parking areas around campus offer another option for skaters. The Lower Mainland is infamous for its rainy weather, and as Hopkins explained, “Come wintertime, the undergrounds are the go-to. With no legitimate indoor skatepark in the city, they’re one of our only hopes.” As a sponsored amateur, Hopkins has travelled across Canada and the United States, seeking out the best possible places to skateboard, but the terrain at UBC stands out. “It’s a skateboard mecca,” he said. Skateboarding on campus exists entirely outside of the realm of university life. Skaters congregate at “skate spots” and document the results either with video or photography. The higher calibre skating gets featured among the many Canadian skateboard publications—magazines such as Color, Concrete and Skateboard Canada. Sometimes a trick or photo transcends the boundaries of Canadian skateboarding and gets featured in one of the major California-based “skate mags,” representing the height of skateboarding skill and quality on the planet. The architecture at UBC facilitates a unique cultural export and allows Canadian skateboarders to represent themselves in the global skateboard scene. Existing separate from academia, skate culture at UBC is hidden in plain sight. U
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Writer Stepan Soroka tackles one of the many skate spots on campus.
6 | Feature | 10.27.2011
Bookstore
Bully Emails acquired by The Ubyssey show that the UBC Bookstore has told at least one supplier to cut off the student union store. Is the Bookstore abusing its buying power?
By Brian Platt
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hat does a university bookstore do when falling book sales threaten its business model? At UBC, one tactic has been to use its buying power to cut smaller competitors out of the market. All large retail outlets, such as the UBC Bookstore, have staff called “buyers,” who have the job of negotiating supply contracts with product distributors. The buyers negotiate with either vendors who work directly for the distributors, or sales representatives who work for many different distributors. At least one clothing and giftware buyer working for the UBC Bookstore has, in the past, told vendors to stop supplying their product to the AMS Outpost, the much smaller campus store run by the student union. The Ubyssey has acquired emails showing that when one vendor refused to cut the Outpost off, the Bookstore buyer canceled their orders and told the vendor that “future business is now compromised.” Debbie Harvie, managing director of the Bookstore, said that Melanie Dodig, the buyer in question, acted inappropriately and that the practice has ended. “I’m quite honestly horrified that this even started at some point,” Harvie said. “The only person who can speak for the Bookstore is our management team. This was something that got out of control. We have dealt with it; it won’t happen again.” Vendors and sales representatives were hesitant to speak about their interactions with the Bookstore when contacted—largely for the reason that they still sell to the Bookstore and didn’t want to hurt their business. But according to multiple sources, Dodig’s tactics were well known among those who sell to the Bookstore. One sales representative, who spoke only on the condition of not being identified, confirmed that many vendors have been pressured by Dodig not to sell to the Outpost. “[The Bookstore] made it clear that they prefer an exclusive on campus, is usually the way they put it,” the sales representative said. “I can tell you that it’s happened more than once with me, for sure.” The only company willing to keep its name
on the record was Stortz & Associates Inc., an and we are adapting along with it.” importer and distributor of toys. Stortz proIn a subsequent interview with The Ubyssey vided documents to The Ubyssey that clearly , Harvie said that book revenue has declined show the Bookstore canceled orders with by seven per cent over the past five years, to them because they continued to supply the the point where books and course materials Outpost. only account for 49 per cent of the Bookstore’s Last spring, the AMS brought a complaint revenues. about the Bookstore’s actions to Harvie. AMS The name change was years in the making, President Jeremy McElroy said he had been originally arising out of a research project informed of the problems by the manager of conducted by the National Association of the Outpost, Wendy Smith. College Stores that anticipated the changing “[Smith] obviously business environment thought this wasn’t of campus bookstores. Your company’s decision to fair, and brought Although the continue to supply the Outpost Bookstore’s re-brandit to our attention. That was where this ing had been approved necessitates that I cancel the whole thing started.” by senior univerMcElroy had an email two outstanding orders... sity executives, it was exchange with Harvie, greeted with a storm who promised to look of negativity when it ...Should your company into it. He also inwas announced to the formed Pierre Ouillet, reverse it’s [sic] decision in the public. Kim Snowden, the Vice-President a women’s and genfuture, we may be amenable to der studies profesFinance, Resources and Operations of sor, started a petition re-establishing contact. UBC, of the student against the change that union’s concerns over Melanie Dodig was signed by almost how Bookstore buyers Bookstore merchandise buyer, in an email 1000 people, including were operating. the dean of Arts, Gage to toy supplier Stortz & Associates Inc. According to Harvie, Averill. this was a one-time Nassif Ghoussoub, a problem that she was unaware of until the mathematics professor and member of UBC’s AMS raised it with her. And although Dodig Board of Governors, wrote on his blog that still works for the Bookstore and was not disalthough the Bookstore’s management was ciplined for her actions, Harvie said that the downplaying the backlash, “every staff memproblem has been addressed. ber, every student and every faculty member “We don’t stop the Outpost from buying I talk to about this issue expresses dismay, from any vendor. It was just a very unfortushock, even disgust with such a decision.” nate circumstance.” The name change was eventually postponed by the Bookstore so it could “collect his controversy comes after the more input from our customers and the UBC Bookstore created a stir this summer community at large.” with a proposal to change its name to The Bookstore operates as an ancillary UBC Central. department of the university, which means it A document circulated by the Bookstore to is expected to be financially self-sufficient. It address questions about the proposed change gets free rent and services from the univerexplained that its current name “does not acsity, but must pay back a dividend every year. curately reflect the wide range of products Dividends used to be calculated as a percentand services offered in the store.” It added age of sales, but are now based on what the that “the traditional book industry is changing Bookstore can afford.
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In each of the past few years, the Bookstore has paid a dividend to the university of around $800,000, according to Harvie. Before that dividend is paid out, the Bookstore is profitable. At a Board of Governors committee meeting on September 20, VP Finance Ouillet noted that “the Bookstore is under tremendous pressure because the book market is experiencing a double digit decline across North America.” Yet he added that the Bookstore is doing a better job of surviving than most, due to their focus on affordability and expanded retail selection.
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n April 30, 2009, Dodig, a clothing and giftware buyer for the Bookstore, sent the following email to Stortz & Associates Inc.: “Per our conversations, you are aware that the Bookstore does not support vendors who sell identical products to the Outpost. “Your company’s decision to continue to supply the Outpost necessitates that I cancel the two outstanding orders PO #P43226 and P43225 and that future business is now compromised. “Should your company reverse it’s [sic] decision in the future, we may be amenable to re-establishing contact.” The orders concerned a line of stuffed animals called GiantMicrobes. A year and a half later, on January 19, 2011, Dodig sent another email to Stortz, asking them to remove her from their mailing lists because “we buy directly from another supplier since we lacked support from your corporation.” After McElroy raised this issue a month later, Harvie sent him an email on March 16 to follow up on the complaint. “To my knowledge, none of the buyers have ever asked a vendor to not sell to the Outpost. If they have, or if any vendor has given the impression, then I would be very concerned. If you have any specific examples, you should get back to me.” Three weeks later, Harvie again emailed the AMS and asked for examples. McElroy then gave her email evidence of what Dodig
10.27.2011 | Feature | 7
What does the law say about unfair competition? From Section 79 of the Competition Act: Where...
“The orders concerned a line of stuffed animals called GiantMicrobes.”
(a) one or more persons substantially or completely control, throughout Canada or any area thereof, a class or species of business,
How does the bookstore stack up to the AMS Outpost? Approximate annual revenues of the UBC Bookstore and the AMS Outpost
$32 million
(b) that person or those persons have engaged in or are engaging in a practice of anticompetitive acts, and (c) the practice has had, is having or is likely to have the effect of preventing or lessening competition substantially in a market, the Tribunal may make an order prohibiting all or any of those persons from engaging in that practice.
had been writing to Stortz. “As soon as I saw it, I directly reached out to Jeremy and we had a conversation about it,” Harvie said. “But by that point, we had actually addressed it and I apologized because I was horrified when I saw that. Because it’s certainly not something I was aware of at the time.” McElroy said that he and Harvie never spoke personally about the problem. “I sent the emails to Debbie, and she said, ‘We’ll look into it,’ and that was the last we heard.” Harvie said that to her knowledge, there was no other occasion when the Bookstore has cut off a vendor for selling to the Outpost. “There had better not be, quite honestly. That is not our policy, that’s not something that I support nor is it something that Jennie [Orpen], our merchandise manager, supports. I think this was just part of a very unfortunate exchange between Melanie [Dodig] and this particular vendor.” But documents show that Jennie Orpen was copied on the April 30, 2009 email from Dodig to Stortz that canceled the order. Nobody who has been involved in selling to the Bookstore was aware of other examples of a vendor’s orders being canceled because they supplied to the Outpost. However, multiple sources who have dealt with Dodig made it clear that a climate had been established where any vendor who sold similar products to the Outpost was in danger of losing their Bookstore accounts. An email exchange given to The Ubyssey by a different sales representative—again, given only on the condition of anonymity—shows what happened when a vendor who has an account with the Bookstore was asked about selling to the Outpost. “Has [Dodig] been given an exclusive on campus?” asked the sales representative. “Because she is very adamant about this, apparently.” “Knowing [Dodig], it will not be a favourable response,” the vendor replied. “She is currently a very good account that buys a lot…she is also a very vocal person at the [trade] shows.” The vendor declined the Outpost account because they didn’t want “to get her back up.” When told about this, Harvie said she wished such vendors “would come talk to me, rather than
make insinuations about Melanie or anyone else on staff.”
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ne option for the AMS when these problems arose was to make a complaint to the Canadian Competition Bureau. Greg Scott, a senior communications adviser with the Bureau, stressed that a full investigation would have to be done before any conclusions could be made about whether the Bookstore’s actions violated the Competition Act. But if the AMS were to make a complaint, he said they would likely try to invoke the Abuse of Dominance Provisions. “There are a number of very specific criteria that would need to be established before we could consider looking at something under the Abuse of Dominance Provisions,” Scott explained. It would need to be shown that a company “substantially or completely controls a market or specific area of business.” That company must then be shown to be engaging in anti-competitive behaviour. The practice has to have, or be likely to have, “the effect of preventing or lessening competition substantially in a market.” Determining whether the Bookstore has dominance in the market would depend on many factors, including the number of stores that sell the same product in the surrounding area. But there is no doubt that the Bookstore wields wvastly larger buying power than the Outpost. Although the AMS does not reveal financial information about its individual businesses, McElroy said that yearly revenues for the Outpost are around $250,000. In the 2009-10 school year, the Bookstore reported revenue of over $32 million. If the Bookstore is found to have violated the Abuse of Dominance Provisions, the possible repercussions range from simply ending the practice to fines and reparation payments. Ultimately, Scott said, it would come down to whether it was seriously affecting student choice. “If the products are widely available on campus or anywhere off campus, in the city, then that’s not really limiting student choice.” Scott added one more question that they would look at: “What’s the effect on price? What’s going to drive the price up dramatically, because it’s only available in one place?”
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f Harvie’s understanding of the situation is correct, then the emails from Dodig do not show a systemic practice by Bookstore buyers, but instead one case that had gotten out of control. There are still GiantMicrobes being sold in the UBC Bookstore, even though Stortz is the only distributor licenced to supply them in Canada. The Bookstore is being supplied by an American distributor that Harvie said they’ve had a “long relationship with,” and gives them a good deal. Until this month, there was a sign in the Outpost noting that GiantMicrobes were $2 cheaper at the Outpost than “elsewhere on campus.” At the Bookstore, one can see that the price tag for GiantMicrobes used to be $11.95, but has now been stickered over at $9.95—the same price as the Outpost. Linda Stortz, the co-owner of Stortz & Associates Inc., said that having a buyer try to tell her who she is not allowed to sell to “happens more than you might think.” Stortz herself has a student union background, and said that it was a “matter of principle” to refuse the Bookstore’s request to stop selling to the Outpost. Buyers have no specific authority to tell vendors what to do, but depending on the size of their account, they do have a lot of power. “As far as we’re concerned, we’ve got to look at where we’re going to make the most money,” said a sales representative. “It’s not discrimination against the AMS or anything else, but it is a fine line we walk between the suppliers and the clients.” Harvie noted that the game can be played both ways; she can cite cases of vendors trying to play buyers off of each other to get a higher price for their products. “Many of these vendors are not honest, and many reps are working on commission and they’ll do whatever they can do to get a sale.” Yet Harvie is very clear that the Bookstore management does not allow its buyers to intimidate vendors into not selling to the student union. “The Outpost is a student venture and we’re not out to in any way damage the way that they can do their business. “The UBC Bookstore is not out to be cutthroat in any way, shape or form.” U
$250,000 Bookstore
Outpost
Culture
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Editor: Ginny Monaco
The Ubyssey’s
HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR Your guide to Halloween on campus
Costume ideas for the lazy and flippant Bryce Warnes Staff Writer
Halloween is an opportunity for the most sober and mature adults to step outside of their everyday boundaries and, for one night of the year, adopt an alternate identity. It’s also a great chance to dress up in a costume that’s way cooler than everyone else’s, thereby illustrating how much more interesting and creative you are than them. Not everyone is a costume prodigy, though. As a certified Halloween Expert, it is my duty to guide the masses towards complete fulfillment of their Halloween dreams. To start you down the path of inspiration, I’ve compiled a list of the best costume ideas I could come up with.
A roasted human
Campus Halloween round up Options abound for shenanigans this weekend Scary Movie Beer Garden at the Norm On Friday, the Norm theatre will open the Halloween weekend with a beer garden and scary movie. The beer garden, which will be $3 for FilmSoc members and $6 for the general public, will include a costume contest and a screening of that grand old parody film, Scary Movie. Two pieces of ID are required.
Curse of the 27 Club The Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS), Funk My Life and CiTR are hosting a “Curse of the 27 Club” Halloween party at the Pit Pub on Friday night. Honoring the “return” of musicians that all eerily died at age 27—including the famed idols Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse and Janis
Joplin—the night will feature an awesome dance party, horror films on the Pit’s screens, and pitchers of beer. Music will be provided by local DJs Josefa and Hanna. The party is a 19+ event, and there is no cover at the door.
FIJI Halloween The doors of FIJI House will be opening at 8pm on Friday October 28 for their annual Halloween party. FIJI House is sure to be bursting with all kinds of ghoulish and seductive characters. Tickets are available through any FIJI member.
LFS|US Halloween BZZR Garden Land and Food Systems Undergraduate Society is hosting
their annual beer garden on Friday night. No cover, $2 beers, and a mechanical bull should make for an emotionally and physically bruising night. Prizes for the best costumes. Entry is before 9:30pm in the Macmillan basement.
GSA Halloween Bzzr Garden The UBC Geography Students Association will be hosting a Halloween beer garden this Friday from 4:30-10pm. There will be a number of events, including a team pumpkin carving contest and a costume contest. This event also has the benefit of running early, making it easy for students to attend both this event and any of the later parties and events around campus.U
Hog tie yourself to a pole and cover your body in teriyaki marinade. Cannibalism is always a crowd-pleaser.
A hologram of yourself being transmitted over a bad wifi connection Move jerkily, like you’re skipping frames. When someone says something to you, pause for five to ten seconds before replying. An Occupy Vancouver protester/the 99 per cent Skip bathing for a few days and carry around a long-winded sign ranting about how you “lost your job” or “the economy isn’t fair” or whatever.
American Apparel model This only works if you’re totally hot in an unconventional way and you have finely-sculpted hip bones.
A person with a kitten Pick one up at the SPCA and return it the next day for a full refund. Bitches love kittens.
A slutty slut Slutty nurses, slutty cops, slutty maids: they abound. You can take the slut paradigm back to its roots by dressing as the real deal. Your own interpretations of what a “slut” is will vary. Just make sure to dress as a really, really slutty slut.
A vampire hunter Same as dressing like a normal vampire, but you get to carry a gun. The law makes provisions for bearing arms on Halloween, but anything bigger than an M16 requires a license.
Stephen Harper eating a hot dog Just imagine what that would look like.
Carbon monoxide poisoning This is a silly idea. Don’t dress as this.
Giant dildo We’ve all seen some amazing erect penis costumes. I know I have. But when was the last time you saw someone dressed as translucent purple silicone sex toy?
Giant pocket pussy Sure, why not. Let’s make this as lewd and degrading as possible.
Giant combination dildo pocket pussy. Seriously?
An agoraphobe
A ghost
Stay home with the lights off.
Solid idea. Not sure how you’d pull this off, though. U
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Gender bending on All-Hallows Eve Scott MacDonald Staff Writer
Halloween has always been associated with terrifying creatures, spooky apparitions and general evil. But among university students, Halloween is also associated with heightened sexualization. Costumes such as (sexy) nurse, (sexy) schoolgirl and (sexy) French maid all spring to mind when one thinks of Halloween. “A lot [of my friends] are doing things like cats or sexy ‘insert word here,’” said thirdyear student Annalise Zwack. “People take advantage of [Halloween] by breaking the social norms, cross-dressing or dressing in a provocative way, which any other day they would feel less comfortable doing,” she added. It has become generally accepted that costumes for this occasion must either be funny, risqué or some combination thereof. Philosophy professor Scott Anderson said that October 31 is a day when people are simply experimenting with the boundaries of sexuality and gender in an entirely normal way.
“Halloween gives some people a chance to exhibit sexual personae that they would be afraid to be associated with the rest of the year,” he said. Social conventions are flipped on their heads and people take the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones and try new things they’ve been curious about. In today’s world, Halloween carries heavy connotations of drunkenness, property destruction and scantily clad women. While this is true in some cases, Halloween is mainly a time of discovery rather than debauchery and is often misunderstood. “One can ‘disown’ one’s dress and one’s behaviour, and their implications, when everyone knows you are supposed to be making a joke or acting out of character,” said Anderson. With tensions—and social convention— surrounding gender and sexuality becoming less strict in recent years, people are embracing the greater opportunity to step outside their comfort zones in terms of appearance. It’s a change that Anderson heartily embraces. “People are in need of outlets to let go of being upstanding citizens all the time,” he said. U
Haunting events that are more about scares than the sauce Sebastian Yoh Chern Contributor
As a kid, Halloween meant dressing up in outrageous or frightening costumes and getting free candy from strangers. But as each year passes, Halloween becomes less about trick-or-treating and more about blatant displays of sexuality and alcohol abuse. However, for those who aren’t too keen on drunken fetishized club nights, there are many events around Vancouver that celebrate the simplicity of Halloweens-past. Fright Night at the PNE, open from October 14-31, is the most popular Halloween event in Vancouver. There are five haunted houses, ranging from the classic mansion to the unsettling clown house. If you prefer thrills to androgynous circus freaks, 11 PNE rides are included with admission. There are also nightly fire shows by the Kinshira Performance Group. Ticket prices are around $30. There’s also the infamous Dunbar Haunted House. What began as one man in a mask attempting to scare five trick-ortreaters has become a terrific celebration of fear that takes 7 months and 100 volunteers to prepare, assemble and operate. Due to its overwhelming rise in popularity, the Haunted House has moved to a 6000 square foot warehouse in Shaughnessy. The entrance fee is $10 for general admission
and $5 for children, with the exception of weekdays, which are $5 for all ages. All proceeds go to charity. Last year’s display managed to raise $67,000. This year’s theme, ‘Barbaric British Columbia,’ combines “elements and characters from traditional horror genres with iconic aspects of BC culture and industry.” For those that crave a more involved Halloween event, there’s the Parade of Lost Souls Festival. Produced by Public Dreams and the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, it’s a two-week festival of workshops that culminates with the Secret Souls Walk. The workshops cover everything from the choreography of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to puppet making. Although it’s too late to participate in the workshops, you can still romp through a transformed East Vancouver at The Secret Souls Walk, which takes place on October 29 from 5pm-9pm. The exact route is yet to be released. So get out there, get scared and rekindle your Halloween spirit! U For more information on these events, visit: www.pne.ca/fright-nights/ www.dunbarhauntedhouse.com/ www.publicdreams.org/2011/
Opinion
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Editor: Brian Platt
We shouldn’t pay twice for UBC’s research Perspectives >> Gordana Panic and Goldis Chami
The Bookstore prefers exclusivity in all realms on campus.
PETER WOJNAR/THE UBYSSEY
The Last Word Parting shots and snap judgments on Halloween issues As you enjoy your chocolate bars, think of the children This most holy of holidays reminds us of so much. Candy. Chocolate. Raisins. Pumpkins. And, of course, child labour. You heard us. Last week, Forbes magazine published an article entitled “Is Your Halloween Candy the Product of Child Labor?” According to a report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 284,000 young Africans are illegally working on cocoa farms, which are responsible for the millions of tiny chocolate bars which will be consumed next week. Sorry to be a buzzkill, but that’s the truth. What you do with that information is up to you. In the 1990s, there were plenty of campaigns against Nike and other Fortune 500 companies that exploited workers in Third World countries. Free the Children was started by 13-year-old Craig Kielburger as part of the global revolt against the conditions millions of children were forced to live in. And then, like most protest movements against big corporations, a few corporations caved, victory was declared and the vast majority of people went back to blissfully not caring where the cheap thing that they bought was made. The best way to address this problem can be debated, but just remember: the status quo stays the status quo for a reason. Trick or treat!
Come on, bartenders Halloween clearly falls under the category of “party holiday.” That is, the fundamental point of the event for the majority of us is to celebrate for celebration’s sake. These events usually involve drinking, especially if you are of a certain age. And, over the years, the need to drink on festive occasions has manifested itself with a variety of themed beverages: champagne on New Year’s Eve, eggnog during Christmas, green beer on St Patrick’s Day and so on. But what is there for Halloween? Our point exactly. A cursory glance
at the liquor store last year found few options, save for Caramilk cream coolers. And while we agree with the fine folks at Cadbury that chocolate and liquor should be combined, pre-packaged cream coolers are not the answer. We can only hope some enterprising young student will come up with the candy concoction that will treat our stomachs and livers for many Halloweens to come.
Get over your self-awareness, at least for one day We know how you feel. You spent a lot of time on your costume, and you want to show it off. But you’re in university now...wouldn’t it be too immature to wear your “Where’s Waldo” costume to class on Monday? The answer is no. While there may be a few stick-in-the-mud types who will stare awkwardly, most people enjoy checking out the various costumes that people wear to class. It’s one of the few days of the year where you can get away with playing dress-up at school and looking completely ridiculous. Take advantage of it! Plus, sitting next to Link from Zelda in your morning economics class is a great way to beat the mundane Monday blues.
The fun police strike again, to nobody’s suprise One of the great Halloween traditions on campus is doing a “beer garden crawl” around the various parties thrown by student groups. One of the most fun stops is the mechanical bull at the AgSci bash. Another is the Halloween Ball put on by the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS). But this year, the Halloween Ball is being held in the Pit, as opposed to a big outdoor party as they’ve had before. It will probably still be a great time, but we can’t help but be disappointed. Why has the EUS moved the event indoors to a bar? Because the RCMP refused to give them a liquor licence to hold it on their own, saying that the liquor licence
quota is already full for that evening. What that really means is that the police feel they don’t have enough officers to handle all the events on campus. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: the students on this campus would be much better served by a properly staffed city or provincial police force, rather than the chronically under-staffed RCMP detachment we have now. More cops means more parties— and more fun for us all.
Philanthropy should be a prominent Halloween tradition Remember those awesome little boxes you used to carry around as a kid while trick-or-treating? Well, okay, maybe the boxes themselves were pretty dorky-looking, but the millions of dollars they sent to UNICEF were pretty damn awesome. But this tradition of giving to charity on Halloween seems to be much less common now, and at the very least, hasn’t caught on with Halloween parties in the way it could have. It would be great if student organizations who throw parties on campus built in a strong philanthropic element, whether it’s a portion of liquor sales, a door prize or something else completely. Considering what we’ve just told you about child labour and its connection to all those delicious little chocolate bars, this is one way that we could give back.
Pillow cases are clearly the way to go When collecting your goodies on Halloween, there are many options to consider for carrying them around. We recommend a pillow case—and, if possible, a double pillow case for added strength. Pillow cases are environmentally friendly, inexpensive, durable and soft on the hands. They also come in many fine colours and patterns. So when you’re looking for that perfect carrying receptacle for your candy needs this Halloween, go with the one that won’t let you down. Pillow cases! U
UBC’s A Place of Mind campaign reminds us that we should be proud of our faculty, who perform groundbreaking research and publish in the world’s most prestigious journals from here. Now, you might think that we would want to disseminate the quality science that we publish from here to everywhere. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case at UBC and many other universities. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)—both publiclyfunded agencies—provide grants to researchers who then publish their findings. Here’s the catch: the traditional publishing model involves relinquishing copyright. Researchers’ work is disseminated in journals that subsequently charge for access to those articles. As a society, we are paying for science, and then we’re paying to read about it. And make no mistake: access to science is expensive. At UBC, we’re lucky enough to have access to many of the articles needed for learning and research. University libraries spend millions on journal subscriptions; we pay $9 million per year for access to 65,000 journals. Costs are passed on to students through tuition fees, and when libraries can’t keep up with exorbitant journal prices, they simply can’t subscribe. Outside of universities, access becomes even more scarce: journalists, policy-makers, physicians and people in developing countries have difficulty accessing the scientific articles because they cost about $30 each. As a result, many people have adopted what they hope will
become a new norm: Open Access publishing. Open Access (OA) articles are online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions. OA articles are edited and peer-reviewed the same way as traditional journal articles. OA aims to take the burden of the cost off the reader so that scholarly works can be more widely disseminated. OA research can be published in more than 7000 OA journals, or in a non-OA journal of your choice with a request to retain the right to deposit that article in an “open access repository.” About 90 per cent of non-OA journals now support some form of self-archiving in these online databases. OA is slowly catching on. Funding agencies such as CIHR and SSHRC require that published research funded by them be made openly accessible to the public within 6-12 months of acceptance. Many universities such as Stanford, MIT, and the University of Ottawa have adopted OA policies for their researchers as well. At UBC, the AMS and Graduate Student Society have signed statements in support of UBC adopting an OA policy. As students, our next step is to convince the university to adopt a campus-wide OA mandate. With October 24-30 being International Open Access Week, we hope we’ve made the case for why it’s so important. As students, we stand to gain a lot from OA. Our professors need to have access to cutting-edge research for our education to be up to date, especially in upper undergraduate and graduate-level courses. For students who publish, studies show that OA results in increased viewership and citations. We are a Place of Mind, but we’re not an ivory tower. Let us continue to do groundbreaking research from here, but let’s remember that it’s rather useless if it’s not being read about out there. U
The joy of pumpkins Editor’s Notebook Ginny Monaco My apartment is filled with pumpkins pretty much all year. I have pumpkin candles, pumpkin pictures, pumpkin salt and pepper shakers, pumpkin everything. Admittedly, it’s a little excessive. Some people collect stamps or baseball cards. I collect pumpkins. One day I was at a pumpkin patch in Kelowna with my friend Kelsey. We were both new to the city and lived in a dorm building with people we really didn’t understand. We missed our families a lot, which was probably why we ended up sardined between screaming children on a hayride around a farm. We bought a $12 pumpkin and cooked it in the oven in our building’s common room. We baked a couple of pies and whenever someone passed by, they sighed and inevitably said something like, “It smells like home in here.” That’s why I like pumpkins so much.
The simplest way to say it is that they make me happy. There’s something comforting and familiar about them. They remind me a bit of my dad—all round and fat and orange. Pumpkins remind me of autumn on the East Coast and carving jack-olanterns and all kinds of other things that make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Pumpkins were the only thing I could get to grow in my vegetable garden when I was a kid. They’re highly underrated foodstuffs and most parts of the plant are edible. Beyond pumpkin pie, the pulp can be used for soups and curries or mixed with butter and garlic and eaten like mashed potatoes. The flowers and leaves can be battered and fried. And the closest thing we have to an official Halloween drink is pumpkin ale. I’ve never been one for the fall-onyour-face-drunk kind of Halloween parties. In my mind, that defeats the purpose of the day. It’s the one day a year we’re practically mandated to feel like kids. And how did you celebrate Halloween as a kid? Probably by carving a jack-o-lantern and eating so much candy you didn’t sleep for a week. U
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Pictures and words on your university experience
STUDENT BODY >>
The science of living in the moment Struggling with term papers? Don’t worry: that’s just your brain growing Happy Healthy Horny
Raeven GeistDeschamps
Wading through my literature degree, especially in the late November season, I’d often knock my teeth against creativity. I would bark and froth at Mary Tighe and sweep my ego under a rug of apathy. As with any discipline (and it did take me a few years to figure this out), practice actually does make a difference. As you reinforce skill patterns, the nervous pathways form new synapses and help your dendrites (the extensions of your nerve cells) grow longer and thicker. Repeated patterns of movement or thought (think throwing 100 Frisbees or using the same equation 20 times) increases the diameter of the dendrites, which means they can interconnect with more neurons and participate in multiple networks, as well as allow nervous impulses to travel faster. Behaviourally, this could indicate an increase in the overlap of your neurons in certain areas of
skill, like understanding sets of movement. It could also signify an increased ability to connect ideas across wide spectrums, because practicing the ability to integrate information assists in making those flashes of insight occur more readily. This type of cognitive exercise is often the point of being in university: to think and produce ideas. Connected to the idea that practice assists in cerebral brilliance is the idea of mindfulness, which has been defined as “monitoring of moment-by-moment cognition, emotion, perception and sensation without fixation on thoughts of past and future.” If you can find a way through kinesthetic exploration or meditation—whatever fits your profile— to develop your ability to live in the present moment, you will tap into allostasis, or the persistent reaction to external or internal influences. Through constant awareness and adaptation to new situations there is a constant integration of information, which can further encourage your creativity. From an evolutionary perspective, mindfulness is a brilliant “systemic
Be safe this Halloween
With practice, patterns will emerge that allow your brain to regonize the present moment and adapt accordingly.
variability,” or perpetual adaptation to your environment. I’m pretty sure successfully attacking a herd of caribou or slaying a mammoth requires a lot of attention to the present moment. In sum, practice makes patterns, patterns create insight,
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recognizing the present moment offers a constant influx of information, which helps with adapting to your environment (i.e. writing papers) and creating new ideas. The ability to constantly adapt correlates with the practice of absorbing information in a conscious
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way, which helps you develop connections between broad spectrums of ideas and concepts. And all of this will assist you in blooming into a student genius, grasping at tendrils of cerebral brilliance and weaving them into original thoughts. U
12 | Games & Comics | 10.27.2011 Sudoku by Krazydad
Sazaemon by Meiki Shu
Comicsmaster by Maria Cirstea