December 1, 2014

DECEMBER 1, 2014 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XXVII UNCOORDINATED SINCE 1918

MIKE BROWN VIGIL

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

EVERYTHING IS PROBLEMATIC

Students show solidarity with the Ferguson demonstrations across North America.

New club is geared to giving economics students a chance to develop their business skills.

From The McGill Daily, Aurora Dagny shares her thoughts on the state of activism.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL Thunderbirds head into the break with back-to-back wins under their belts.

PuSh Festival Vancouver’s 11th annual International Performing Arts Festival returns Jan 20 - Feb 8

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 |

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS, PEOPLE + CAMPUS

EVENTS MON-TUES

OUR CAMPUS

THIS WEEK, CHECK OUT ...

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ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS THAT MAKE UBC

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24 HOURS OF STUDENT POWER 6:00 A.M. - 6:00 A.M. @ 101.9 FM CITR

CiTR is hosting a 24-hour session on the air consisting entirely of broadcasts by and for UBC clubs and initiatives. Learn more about your favourite campus initiatives — including The Ubyssey at 2:30 p.m.. Free

TUESDAY

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Raza has worked for UBC Food Services in various positions for over 27 years.

Meena Raza serves up smiles and sandwiches at Subway

START OF EXAMS ALL DAY @ UBC CAMPUS

Load up on coffee and snacks and say goodbye to your social life — exam season is here. Study hard, but make sure to take breaks for the sake of your physical and mental health. The cost of your tuition (and sanity).

WEDNESDAY

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UBYSSEY SNOW ISSUE PRODUCTION

3:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. @ THE UBYSSEY OFFICE SUB 24 BASEMENT

At The Ubyssey’s penultimate production of the year, join us to help make our snow-themed issue. No experience is needed and free dinner is provided.

As you can probably tell, there aren’t many events this week. Free

Leo Soh Staff writer

One of the first things a mother does is feed her child. Meena Raza, an unwavering presence at the Subway in the Student Union Building, is the Santa Maria of UBC. Raza has spent much of her life in Vancouver, marrying and settling down on Canada’s West Coast in 1970. She hails from the island of Fiji, where she spent her childhood. She leads a happy life with her family: “I have two children: a boy and a girl. They are both married, and I have four grandchildren: three boys and one girl.” It’s apparent that these six are the jewels of Raza’s life, her six biggest sources of happiness and meaning.

This is my home — I started right here [the SUB]. After working here for six years, they started putting senior workers into another unit so we’d get more hours. So almost all of the units at UBC, I’ve worked in.”

ON THE COVER “No, it’s not a circus.”

Illustration -Julian Yu

Meena Raza Employee at the SUB Subway

Want to see your events listed here?

Email your events listings to ourcampus@ubyssey.ca.

U THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL

Coordinating Editor Will McDonald coordinating@ubyssey.ca

Design Editor Nick Adams printeditor@ubyssey.ca

Web Developer Peter Siemens web@ubyssey.ca

News Editors Jovana Vranic + Veronika Bondarenko news@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Jenica Montgomery culture@ubyssey.ca

Sports + Rec Editor Jack Hauen sports@ubyssey.ca

Video Producer Tim Hoggan video@ubyssey.ca

Photo Editor Cherihan Hassun photo@ubyssey.ca

Opinions + Blog Editor Austen Erhardt aerhardt@ubyssey.ca

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

As a professional, Raza’s diligence and loyalty are second to none. Having started working for UBC Food Services on

DECEMBER 1, 2014 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XXVII

STAFF

Copy Editor Ciaran Dougherty

Natalie Scadden, CJ Pentland, Kosta Prodanovic, Dave Nixon, copy@ubyssey.ca Soren Elsay, Olamide Olaniyan, Lawrence Neal Garcia, Tariq Distribution Coordinator Vira, Kelley Lin, Jenny Tang, Lily Cai Leo Soh, Mateo Ospina, Lu lcai@ubyssey.ca Zhang, Brock Newman, Koby Michaels, Jasmine Cheng, Illustrator Miguel Santa Maria, Natalie Julian Yu Morris julianyu@ubyssey.ca

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Editorial Office: SUB 24 604.822.2301

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September 18, 1987, Raza has spent more time on campus than most university undergraduate students have spent on Earth: 27 years.

“This is my home, I started right here [the SUB]. After working here for six years, they started putting senior workers into another unit so we’d get more hours. So almost all of the units at UBC, I’ve worked in.”

She made her return to the Student Union Building in recent years. “It was 2011 or 2012, and I’ve been working at Subway since then. I did work there when it first opened, quite a few years back, but I came back again.”

“During reading week, [my] unit closed, so my manager... said I could come work at the Olympics! I was so excited!”

Meena Raza

Her job is not static and repetitive, as many may suspect. In fact, Raza enjoys her responsibilities, and relishes the opportunities she gets to serve and interact with students.

“This is my second job in Canada. I worked 16 years in the Salvation Army, and then came here. So I’ve always been working with people, and I just love people. Here, I enjoy [working with] students, and

because I have children and four grandchildren, when I see [the students], it reminds me of them.”

In 2010, Raza was given a very special opportunity. The Winter Olympics were underway in Vancouver, and Raza somehow found herself serving food to athletes at Olympic Village, in the reboot unit.

“During reading week, [my] unit closed, so my manager ... said I could come work at the Olympics! I was so excited!” It became an unforgettable experience, one that she recalls fondly to this day. “I even saw some of the ladies’ ice hockey team; I love ice hockey.”

So why does a popular UBC Confession with over 250 likes say, “Seriously now, who’s up for boycotting the Subway in the SUB because of their horrible construction of their sub-sandwiches? Whenever I order a sandwich from this specific one (which is rare) it is just SO infuriating how awful it is.

Petition? Who’s in?” Whatever the reason for this discontent, it’s clear that the staff, or at least Raza and her friendly demeanour, can’t be at the root of the problem. Raza is surprised by this negative sentiment, and is befuddled as to where it originated. “I love to serve students and work, they’re just like my children! I just try to do my best. Do come to the Subway; I love the students, and I want them to come over and visit me — visit Meena!” U

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 |

EDITORS JOVANA VRANIC + VERONIKA BONDARENKO

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FERGUSON >>

Students stand in solidarity with Ferguson demonstrators Veronika Bondarenko News Editor

UBC students came together for a candlelit vigil in honour of Mike Brown on Friday, November 28.

Students gathered outside on the Martha Piper Plaza to stand in memory of Mike Brown, the 18 year-old unarmed black teen who was shot dead by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9.

After a St. Louis County grand jury ruled that Darren Wilson would not be indicted for killing Mike Brown on Nov. 24, waves of protests and solidarity for Mike Brown’s family started taking place across the United States, Canada and the world.

Organized by the Women’s Centre at UBC, the Vigil for Mike Brown: UBC Solidarity Event brought together a crowd of students in a powerful demonstration against police brutality and in support of the people of Ferguson. Throughout the vigil, students held candles and shone the light from their phones to express solidarity with Mike Brown and his family as well as the other people of colour, most frequently black men, who were killed by police officers in recent years.

The event started with alternating speakers reading out statistics, including that a black male is killed by police every 28 hours in the US. After that, the crowd observed four and a half minutes of silence, which

PHOTO KONSTANTIN PRODANOVI Ć/THE UBYSSEY

Students organized a candlelight vigil in honour of Mike Brown on Friday, November 28.

the Brown family had requested of protesters in honour of the four and a half hours that Mike Brown’s body had lain on the street after he was shot.

Blessing Falayi, who was one of the speakers and organizers of the event, spoke about the need to change the culture of violence and anti-blackness in North America.

“By saying that Mike Brown was black, some may accuse me

of looking past the facts, seeing only colour,” said Falayi. “Darren Wilson could not unsee colour.

I cannot see unsee colour. You have trained me to see my own colour and to be ashamed of it.”

Students from the crowd also read out the names of other black males who were recently killed by police, including Trayvon Martin, Kendrec McDade and Oscar Grant. Others also called out the last words uttered by

each of these victims before they were killed by the police, including McDade’s ‘Why did you shoot me?’.

Student activist Ivan Leonce also recited a poem about racism, strength and resistance.

“I am ten thousand shades of black, brown and beige,” said Leonce.

“I am the rush of the Ganges river, resilient from Indian Ocean to Caribbean.”

Falayi also said that, by coming together and speaking up against societal injustices, people can do their part in honouring victims of police brutality and breaking apart racist power systems.

“Mike Brown’s death is not isolated or unique,” said Falayi.

“It was part of a much larger phenomenon. But despite all of that, we strive on. We have endured and we have survived.” U

PIPELINES >>

Students, environmental activists continue the anti-pipeline fight on Burnaby Mountain Dave Nixon Senior Staff Writer

UBC students joined the Kinder Morgan pipeline protesters on Burnaby Mountain on Sunday, Nov. 30.

The trip to join the International Day of Action in support of the protesters is organized

by UBC’s Student Environment Centre (SEC).

“The UBC community is against this, and we are a large group of people,” said Maya Graves, SEC’s Outreach Coordinator. “It’s our duty to share our voice.”

The event began at 1 p.m. and continued with a series of presentations from speakers, drummers and bands like The Boom Booms. Groups from almost 14 cities have participated in the day, with support as far-reaching as Glasgow, Scotland.

Kinder Morgan has applied to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline, which would have it run through Burnaby Mountain. The protesters have been disrupting the process of soil testing that Kinder Morgan will use in their project proposal to the National Energy Board (NEB).

“There’s so many reasons, but I think the reason students are most inclined to go up for is environmental reasons and to support indigenous communities because it is their unceded territory,” said Graves.

Graves also hopes that this day of action will help bring students together to strengthen the overall community of activism on campus.

Sunday wasn’t the first day that UBC students joined the Burnaby Mountain protests. Laura Stewart, a second-year science student,

PHOTO MARK KLOTZ/FLICKR

Members of UBC’s Student Environment Centre made the trek out to Burnaby Mountain to protest against the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

spent her Wednesday digging in mud to build a road around the police blockade.

“Your beliefs don’t mean anything if you don’t do anything about it,” said Stewart. “I just didn’t want to be that person who’s just standing by idly watching things happen.”

She said the atmosphere among protestors was very warm and friendly, though there were still a

few tense moments between them and the police.

Final exams are on the horizon, but Stewart hopes to keep participating in the protests.

“If this is something you’re passionate about you can always make time,” said Stewart. “Every person who goes up there does make a difference.”

On Nov. 28, a judge ruled that Kinder Morgan’s injunction

wouldn’t be extended, meaning it would no longer be illegal for protestors to cross into the testing site as of December 1. As a result, Kinder Morgan has been flying their equipment out.

A judge has also thrown out most of the arrests (over 100 to date) because of a mistake Kinder Morgan made when it gave the GPS coordinates for the injunction site. Despite that, the

company says they have enough information to go ahead with their proposal to the NEB. Stewart and Graves are both encouraged by this news, but feel it is important to continue maintaining a presence on the mountain.

“We can’t let the protests die out, we have to stay strong,” said Stewart. “I think that if we continue to do that, we have a hope.” U

4 | NEWS |

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

SHOPPING >>

TECHNOLOGY >>

A severe case of mob mentality: looking at the psychology behind Black Friday and Boxing Day

StartupStorm is encouraging students to materialize their own technological ideas Jovana Vranic News Editor

PHOTO COURTESY JOANDREA HOEGG

JoAndrea Hoegg studies consumer behaviour and the hype around sales.

Scott Jacobsen Contributor

A Sauder professor says that mob mentality is behind much of the pushing and shoving we see see during shopping days such as Black Friday and Boxing Day. JoAndrea Hoegg, UBC associate professor and Canada Research Chair in consumer behaviour, studies the science behind mob psychology and shopping.

Hoegg’s current research centres around prominent shopping days such as Black Friday, which has recently started gaining popularity in Canada, and Boxing Day. According to Hoegg, many shoppers get so caught up in finding the best deals that they do not think of what they are doing as mob psychology.

“When you have a large group of people together engaging in some behavior, you have something called deindividuation, which means they have a feeling of anonymity,” said Hoegg. “They feel less responsible for their own actions.”

Deindividuation creates a sense of energy in the crowd en masse.

Individuals become more carefree about the consequences of their actions and can start engaging in aggressive behaviours. “[The shoppers] start engaging in behaviours that they would not otherwise do,” said Hoegg. “Of course, that can lead, in a shop-

ping environment, to what you sometimes see on the news.”

At the same time, Hoegg said that popular media sources tend to show the more extreme cases of such behaviour. Still, the presence of large crowds also contributes to creating an environment where people feel like they have to push aside others for the best deal.

“If it was just a regular shopping day and not this large crowd, a normal human would not do this,” said Hoegg. “That’s mob psychology.”

According to Hoegg, stores will often use such techniques to give off the appearance of the scarcity of their products. That way, people will be more likely to think that they need to rush off and buy a particular item before everyone else.

“Stores make it seem like the products that people may want to buy is scarce,” said Hoegg. “There is a chance the product will run out. There is a sense of urgency.”

Hoegg said that while such shopping days can be fun for most people, they also create an environment where people’s competitiveness can come out in ways that are harmful.

“People want to be the one to get the product, get the deal and beat everyone else out,” said Hoegg. “That, combined with so many people, can lead to this sort of more aggressive behaviour.” U

THE DELLY NEEDS YOU! WE ARE LOOKING FOR STAFF TO SERVE THE UBC COMMUNITY FROM 7:30 AM DAILY, FULL TIME. PLEASE APPLY IN PERSON, STUDENT UNION BUILDING BASEMENT

StartupStorm is a new joint UBC/ SFU club that hopes to help students independently start their own technological initiatives.

According to the club’s president and Director of Corporate Relations, David Baldwynn, their main goal is to encourage students across all faculties to get involved in building hardware and software, instead of relying on outside sources to materialize their ideas.

“I believe if you get a strong community of people who build stuff (hackers), then you actually get the start-ups coming out of that,” said Baldwynn.

“The other approach is putting a lot of money into it, and then hoping someone builds [your product for you].”

The club, now made up of about 40 members, meets every week or two for hack nights, and is currently organizing a major hackathon event and talks with notable entrepreneurs, programmers and engineers. StartupStorm is an unofficial name, as the group took over an old club six months ago, the App Development club, and they have yet to found themselves as a separate AMS group.

In late September, they hosted a small hackathon— an event at which participants build an app or software project from scratch in 36 hours, and are judged on the final product. This small-scale event, however, was only 10 hours long.

At the event, “this one team made a really amusing app called ‘Talk to Me Nerdy’… it was like an engineering pick-up line generator,” said Baldwynn. “It was

PHOTO NICK ADAMS/THE UBYSSEY

David Baldwynn is a third-year electrical engineering student at UBC, and the president of StartupStorm.

actually really cool. They were all first-years and they learned iOS in 10 hours.”

Other projects created at the event were a transit alarm that woke up sleepy commuters before they missed their stop and a version of the UBC course registration site with relevant professor and course reviews from around the web made to help students choose their classes.

In January, the group will be holding a larger, 36-hour hackathon, nwHACKS, for over 300 participants from all over the Pacific Northwest.

“All of the big [hackathons] are on the east coast, and I wanted to fix that problem,” said Baldwynn. nwHACKS is slated to be one of the largest events of its kind in Western Canada.

According to Baldwynn, one other problem the group is currently facing is the lack of a club space.

“We’re trying to get a space not just for our club but for every student who wants to come in and build stuff,” he said.

They’re teaming up with multiple clubs to advocate to the AMS to get a hack space in the new SUB or in one of the engineering buildings.

“The problem I’m finding right now is that if, for example, I’m an electrical engineering student, I can’t just go in and use a mech lab,” said Baldwynn. “There’s a lot of facilities open, but only to specific faculties.”

According to Baldwynn, having a common space for programming, building and project work will help to better encourage students to start up their own ventures.

“The stereotype is that engineers are just people who program in the basement of their parents’ house, and I’m trying to reverse that notion and get people building stuff socially,” he said. U

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 14036

Public Open House

National Soccer Development Centre You are invited to attend an Open House on Wednesday, December 3 to view and comment on the proposed new National Soccer Development Centre located within Thunderbird Park in the Athletics Precinct.

Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 Time: 4:30 - 6:00 PM Place: Commons Room, MBA House, 3385 Wesbrook Mall Plans will be displayed for the proposed new 3,400m2 National Soccer Development Centre, a joint project between UBC Athletics and the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club.

Representatives from the project team and Campus + Community Planning will be available to provide information and respond to inquiries about this project.

An update will also be provided on the Thunderbird Park Precinct Plan.

For more information on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586 This event is wheelchair accessible.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 |

EDITOR JENICA MONTGOMERY

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PuSh FESTIVAL The performing arts festival is returning for its 11th year, but this year UBC has a smaller role than in previous years.

Words by Olivia Law

Illustration by Juian Yu

PHOTO COURTESY PUSH FESTIVAL

In Les Miserables , Victor Hugo Eleven years ago, much of PuSh elsewhere,” said Rosario on the states that “life is a theatre set Festival was centred around UBC. variety of shows being displayed at in which there are but few Robert Gardiner, acting theatre the festival. practicable entrances.” In department head at UBC and a for“The conversation is importother words, the best theatre mer board member of the festival ant to citizens of the city, to be is different and pushes was heavily involved in the openexposed to challenging work, boundaries, heading the ing years of the festival, helping interesting work, inspiring work.” controversial over the UBC host “University mundane. He was ahead and present students are “The conversation is of his time — today, theshows year smart people important to citizens of atre is constantly pushafter year. and interested ing boundaries, using “We were in the world,” the city, to be exposed to innovative locations, one of the agreed Gardinthemes and ideas to sites of the er. “It’s trying challenging work, intercreate conversation. first PuSh to challenge you esting work, inspiring Vancouver’s Festival,” intellectually 11th annual PuSh said Garand engage work.”

International diner on you.”

Performing Arts UBC’s rich Rosario is Festival is keen history with Joyce Rosario keen to stress PuSh Associate Curator that the PuSh to commission the event. groundbreaking “A producFestival is not work, stimulat- tion came only about ing dialogue to perform from Denmark and the ticketed performances. “The and exchange performed in the Freddy Wood, PuSh Assembly started off as an through all so we’ve been connected from the industry gathering, but over the varieties of beginning.” years has developed into a more performing The original idea of hosting per- open invitation to industry memarts, from formances at UBC was to encourbers, arts aficionados, people who dance to age students to attend new types are interested in the festival as a music to of theatre — having it right at your whole, but want to dig deeper into instaldoorstep isn’t something every engaging with artists.” lations. university student gets to experiMade up of artist round table This ence. This year, however, UBC is discussions, case studies and year, not hosting any performances. Due breakfast conversations, these there are to scheduling conflicts between largely free events are opportun23 main performances at a huge departments, the theatrical spaces ities for people who might not have number of locations in and around on campus are subject to abnorthe time or budget to see six differthe city. With performers coming mally busy timetables, meaning ent shows, but want to maintain a from as far afield as Argentina, that to see the shows, students close connection to the festival.

New Zealand and the Netherlands, will have to venture from campus Gardiner noted that, usually, as well as several from Canada and towards spaces downtown or at the people who attend these extra Vancouver, there will be someSFU. However, with large numbers events are part of a very specific thing to stimulate interest. of commuter students, Gardiner subset of the theatregoing audiUBC Theatre alum Joyce Rosbelieves that this will provide ence. ario is in the middle of her second encouragement for those who live “Usually, the ones I’ve been to year curating with PuSh Festival. further from campus to see the are full of people from the arts “There’s a very long list of things spectacles at other locations. community who want to learn we wish to program, and we update Rosario also wants to encourage more about the creation process, it constantly with works that we students to branch out and see but there’s also a subset of the see that we want to add,” Rosario new kinds of theatre events. “At audience who are just genuinely said on her role with the festival. the outset of PuSh, it was really to interested,” said Gardiner.

“It’s about seeing a lot of work and set a new context for the converComparing the elements of being sation we Festival Theatre as a “party introduced having atmosphere,” Gardiner cites “That’s PuSh’s mandate, they were to new as a theatre the main attractions of PuSh artists, over an “ordinary” theatrical go all over the place to find community, whether as an arts experience are the social asthe best performing arts from community — pects, the interaction and the it’s local, national or exposed networking opportunities. across the board.” being interto work which This year, PuSh is gunning for national.” increased interaction between Robert Gardiner was made <em>

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Acting head of the UBC theatre department

audience and performers.

“It’s definitely about finding “One thing this the best things we can get.” year that we’ve kind of cracked Joyce Rosario is the gender balance,” said Rosario. “I think if you looked at the program groups doing things, you’d find a really great balance of so it’s going to male and female artists.” attract audiences.

But this balance of male and fe- You gotta see male, national and international, more than art and performance is not a man- one thing, date of the festival. “We don’t sit because down and have a quota,” said Ros- nothing is ario. “It’s definitely about finding going to the best things we can get.” This be the certainly ensures the prestigious same.” nature of the festival.

Although there are several Vancouver-based projects in PuSh each year, they are not simply included for variety and balance — it’s because they deserve to be there.

“They do help to fund projects from Vancouver, but they’re funding them as international projects which just happen to be from Vancouver,” noted Gardiner. “That’s PuSh’s mandate, they go all over the place to find the best performing arts from across the board.”

According to Rosario, it’s impossible to pick just one Rosario believes the context standout piece this year. “That’ll of the performance is what is imchange, I can pick a different portant about the festival theatre show on any given day …” Some culture. highlights for her, however, “I think discovery is a really include The Grand Continental important value to have as a an outdoor, site-specific dance festival, to give people the ability piece cast with 75 non-proto discover more things, more fessional dancers, who will be conversations, more ideas.” rehearsing for just 10 weeks prior Valuing risk-taking, collabto performance. oration, inspiration and innovaFor those interested in tion, PuSh Festival is seeking to theatrical production, Rosario engage with audiences through recommends Ciniastas , a show their contemporary works, to travelling from Argentina, stimulate audiences through complete with an innovative set, interaction and to showcase the costume design and enormously very best extraordinary collabortalented cast. ations. Now more than ever the So why should we attend the festival is pushing boundaries PuSh Festival, when there are and is sure to provoke a reaction so many other theatrical events from everyone. around Vancouver already?

“The appeal of festivals is that they’re big events,” said Gardiner. “There are lots of venues, lots For more information on the of activities and many different PuSh festival, go to pushfestival.ca U <em>

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6 | CULTURE |

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

RECIPE >>

CLUBS >>

New club on campus wants to give economics students more experience

Delicious stress brownies

NETFLIX >>

Bottom of the Queue: Knights of Badassdom

Sam Fruitman Staff Writer

PHOTO OLIVIA LAW/ THE UBYSSEY

Knights! Sorcery! Peter Dinklage!

If any or all of these things sound appealing to you, take a break from cramming for finals and watch this amusing stoner comedy. Crammed with familiar faces, Knights of Badassdom centers around a group of LARPers (that’s Live Action Role Play for the ill-informed folks) who unknowingly conjure a bloodthirsty demon with an appetite for freshly harvested human hearts during an intense LARP session.

The group of heroes, consisting of True Blood ’s Ryan Kwanten, Game of Thrones ’ Peter Dinklage, Firefly’s Summer Glau, Community’s Danny Pudi, and Steve Zahn (you know, the guy in Sahara who isn’t Matthew McConaughey), must defeat the seductive succubus before it’s too late.

Where the film might lack in story, it definitely makes up for it with some great action scenes. Who wouldn’t want to see an armor-clad Tyrion Lannister kicking demon ass alongside everyone’s favourite sci-fi crush, Summer Glau? And to make things even better, there are some really sweet scenes featuring copious amounts of fake blood and a Temple of Doom-style heart grab.

As with any film of such a calibre, there are a couple of minor plot hiccups. But who needs a completely airtight plot when you have an allout battle royale that rivals one from Lord of the Rings? Well, not really ... but you get the idea. Our biggest problem with the film? Not enough Dinklage!

The bottom line: A film about live action roleplaying featuring all of your favourite TV characters? How could you say no to that? U <em>

Brownies are delicious. End of story.

Olivia Law Senior Staff Writer

When faced with a student budget, exam timetable and an emergency gift to buy, it can be tempting to pass off an IOU or a coffee voucher as a thoughtful present. However, the best presents, we all know, are homemade, calorie-filled and smell like heaven in a pan. That is where the yumiest of yummy brownies come into play.

You will need:

PHOTO COURTESY OF IEBA

The International Economics Business Association was just ratified by the AMS.

Olamide Olaniyan Staff Writer

For some students aspiring to major in economics, googling “careers” helps only a little in figuring out what to do with their careers.

Three students from the brand new Bachelor of International Economics Program (BIE) figured this out last year and their realization soon led to the birth of the International Economics Business Association (IEBA). The founders pride themselves on being the University of British Columbia’s first “business integrated economics students association.”

Ratified by the AMS early in September and supported by the Vancouver School of Economics, the club focuses on integrating economics students into business by showing them how economics can be applied to real world business problems and by exposing them to real life professionals.

This allows the students to start developing the skillset they need as economists before they graduate, even before getting accepted into the school of economics.

“Our short-term goal is getting students in the first and second year, who are passionate about economics, or are thinking about economics, getting them more information and getting them better prepared for internships and for careers later down the road,” said Judah Okwuobi, the VP external and one of the three founders of the club.

The creation of the club came at an exciting time for undergraduate life of economics students. As of UBC’s 100th anniversary next year, there will be a “full-fledged undergraduate society” for the Vancouver school of Economics, and Okwuobi hopes that the IEBA will be integrated within that body as well, to cater more to students interested in business.

Owkuobi made the distinction between the IEBA and the Vancouver School of Economics Undergraduate Society (VSEUS), to clear up most common misunderstandings about the club.

The scope of the IEBA is narrower and more business-oriented.

Rather than compete against the VSEUS, the IEBA is hoping to complement the VSEUS’ wide and rapidly expanding reach. “[VSEUS], they have a much larger scope. They’re looking at all economics students; honours, BA, BIE. They’re looking at how to grow the undergraduate life from the development perspective, from the resource perspective and the business perspective,” said Okwuobi.

“We would be an aspect of what the undergraduate society will be doing.”

Part of the reason why the BIE program was established was to train economics students for business work around the world in the classroom before they graduated. The IEBA takes this idea one step further by offering opportunities to develop their skills even outside their classroom.

There are hopes to have a workshop series in the future and to send delegates of the association out to local and international economic regions like the Asia Pacific Economic summit.

Even though it was just gratified by the AMS, Okwuobi is very encouraged by the association’s reception so far.

“The first day our Facebook page went live, we had 200 likes within the first 24 hours. So far, on our member list we have about 50 people,” said Okwuobi.

“People are really interested in what were doing in the future, now they’re just waiting to see how our vision materializes in the next couple of months.” U

• 1 pack of Pillsbury (or other) cookie dough • 1 pack of brownie mixture (I used ‘super chocolaty crunch’) • 1 pack of Oreos (there will probably be too many, but realistically we can all think of ways to use up the leftovers) • Box of Smarties, M&M’s, Reeces Pieces etc • Water • 1 egg • Vegetable oil • Pan to cook it in • Bowl to mix the brownie mixture What to do: 1. Heat your oven to 350F. 2. Essentially, the stress brownie is all about the layers. First of all,

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making sure that the cookie dough is at room temperature, create the base layer to cover the entire bottom of the pan. Try to spread it out evenly, and make sure that it’s not too thin, otherwise you’ll have burnt cookies.

3. Next layer is the Oreo layer.

It could be recommended that you layer them in a pretty pattern of concentric circles, but realistically, nobody’s going to see that they’re there, so it’s kind of a waste of time, and when you’re eating them, it’s such a surprise that nobody’s going to be examining the shape of your cookies.

4. Finally, mix up the brownie mixture according to the package instructions. Using a spatula, add this final layer to the top of the Oreos, trying to keep it spread as evenly as possible.

5. Sprinkle your decorative chocolates on the top of the brownie layer, and place in the oven.

6. After around 30 minutes, test to see whether your stress brownies are ready, by sticking a fork into it. It’s okay if a little bit of brownie comes out with the fork, as it’ll continue to cook for a few more minutes when it’s out of the oven, and you don’t want to over bake the cookies.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, and a mouthful of cavities. U

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STUDENT VOICE. COMMUNITY REACH.

7

Everything is problematic

ALICE SHEN/THE MCGILL DAILY

My journey into the centre of a dark political world, and how I escaped Aurora Dagny The McGill Daily

in every combination thereof (Mob Squad is one example of many). I read books like Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? and The Coming Insurrection . I shouted my lungs out at protests. So many protests. Marching down the street carrying a sign that said “Fuck Capitalism” became my main form of exercise. That was the year of the tuition protests. There was a lot of excitement in the air. I thought maybe, just maybe, there would be a revolution. A girl can dream.

2012 was the year I hit peak radicalism. Things I did that year included occupying a campus building (for the second time), bodychecking a security guard, getting rammed at low speed by a cop on a moped, sitting through an entire SSMU General Assembly and running from flashbang grenades hurled by police.

(I wasn’t nearly as hardcore as most of the people I knew. “I love how pepper spray clears out your sinuses,” one said. Some participated in black blocs. At one point, a few spent the night in jail.)

Since then, my political worldview has steadily grown and evolved and refined itself. I no longer pine for revolution. I don’t hate capitalism or the state as if those were the names of the people who killed my dog. My politics still lean to the left, just not quite so far and now I view economic and political systems with an engineer’s eye, rather than in the stark colours of moral outrage. I am just as passionate about queer activism and feminism as I ever was, and aspire to be an ally to other anti-oppressive movements just as much as I ever did. I feel like I have a richer and more nuanced understanding of anti-oppressive politics and ethics than ever before. I’ve held onto all the lessons that I’ve learned. I am grateful to the many people who shared their insight with me.

There is something dark and vaguely cultish about this particular brand of politics. <em>

I’ve been a queer activist since I was 17. I grew up in a socially conservative rural town where people would shout homophobic slurs at me from the windows of their pickup trucks. My brushes with anti-gay hatred intimidated me, but they also lit a fire in me. In my last year of high school, I resolved to do whatever I could to make a change before I graduated and left town for good. I felt like I had a duty to help other queer kids who were too scared to come out or who had feelings of self-hatred. I gave an impassioned speech about tolerance at a school assembly, flyered every hallway and classroom, and started a group for LGBTQ students and allies.

Not long after, I was exposed to the ideas of Judith Butler, a bold and penetrating mix of thirdwave feminism and queer theory.

I saw truth in Butler’s radical perspective on gender, and it felt liberating. My lifelong discomfort with being put in a box — a binary gender category — was vindicated. This is when my passion for feminism began in earnest. I put a bumper sticker on my car that said “Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History.” I bought a subscription to Bitch magazine. When it came time to graduate and move on to McGill, I eagerly enrolled in a class on feminist theory, as well as a class in Sexual Diversity Studies, the subject that would later become my minor.

My world only kept expanding from there. In Montreal, I was exposed to a greater diversity of people and perspectives than ever before. The same sort of transformation that had occurred in my mind about gender happened with race and disability. I learned about classism and capitalism.

At Rad Frosh, a workshop by the high-profile activist Jaggi Singh who gave me my first real introduction to anarchism. My first year at McGill was a whirlwind of new people and new revelations.

In my second year, I dove in. I became heavily involved with a variety of queer, feminist, generally anti-oppressive and radical leftist groups and organizations,

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I’ll be graduating soon, and I’ve been thinking about my years in Montreal with both nostalgia and regret. Something has been nagging at me for a long time. There’s something I need to say out loud, to everyone before I leave. It’s something that I’ve wanted to say for a long time, but I’ve struggled to find the right words. I need to tell people what was wrong with the activism I was engaged in, and why I bailed out. I have many fond memories from that time, but all in all, it was the darkest chapter of my life.

There is something dark and vaguely cultish about this particular brand of politics.

I used to endorse a particular brand of politics that is prevalent at McGill and in Montreal more widely. It is a fusion of a certain kind of anti-oppressive politics and a certain kind of radical leftist politics. This particular brand of politics begins with good intentions and noble causes, but metastasizes into a nightmare.

In general, the activists involved are the nicest, most conscientious people you could hope to know.

But at some point, they took a wrong turn, and their devotion to social justice led them down a dark path. Having been on both sides of the glass, I think I can bring some painful but necessary truth to light.

Important disclaimer: I passionately support anti-oppressive politics in general and have only good things to say about it. My current political worldview falls under the umbrella of leftism, although not radical leftism. I’m basically a social democrat who likes co-ops and believes in universal basic income, the so-called ‘capitalist road to communism.’ I agree with a lot of what the radical left has to say, but I disagree with a lot of what it has

to say. I’m deeply against Marxism-Leninism and social anarchism, but I’m sympathetic to market socialism and direct democracy. I don’t have any criticism for radical leftism in general, at least not here, not today. What I feel compelled to criticize is only one very specific political phenomenon, one particular incarnation of radical leftist, anti-oppressive politics.

There is something dark and vaguely cultish about this particular brand of politics. I’ve thought a lot about what exactly that is. I’ve pinned down four core features that make it so disturbing: dogmatism, groupthink, a crusader mentality and anti-intellectualism.

I’ll go into detail about each one of these. The following is as much a confession as it is an admonishment. I will not mention a single sin that I have not been fully and damnably guilty of in my time.

First, dogmatism. One way to define the difference between a regular belief and a sacred belief is that people who hold sacred beliefs think it is morally wrong for anyone to question those beliefs.

If someone does question those beliefs, they’re not just being stupid or even depraved, they’re actively doing violence. They might as well be kicking a puppy.

When people hold sacred beliefs, there is no disagreement without animosity. In this mindset, people who disagreed with my views weren’t just wrong, they were awful people. I watched what people said closely, scanning for objectionable content. Any infraction reflected badly on your character, and too many might put you on my blacklist. Calling them ‘sacred beliefs’ is a nice way to put it.

What I mean to say is that they are dogmas.

Thinking this way quickly divides the world into an ingroup and an outgroup — believers and heathens, the righteous and the wrong-teous. “I hate being around un-rad people,” a friend once texted me, infuriated with their liberal roommates. Members of the ingroup are held to the same

stringent standards. Every minor heresy inches you further away from the group. People are reluctant to say that anything is too radical for fear of being seen as too un-radical. Conversely, showing your devotion to the cause earns you respect. Groupthink becomes the modus operandi. When I was part of groups like this, everyone was on exactly the same page about a suspiciously large range of issues. Internal disagreement was rare. The insular community served as an incubator of extreme, irrational views.

High on their own supply, activists in these organizing circles end up developing a crusader mentality: an extreme self-righteousness based on the conviction that they are doing the secular equivalent of God’s work. It isn’t about ego or elevating oneself. In fact, the activists I knew and I tended to denigrate ourselves more than anything. It wasn’t about us, it was about the desperately needed work we were doing, it was about the people we were trying to help. The danger of the crusader mentality is that it turns the world in a battle between good and evil. Actions

Anti-intellectualism was the one facet of this worldview I could never fully stomach. that would otherwise seem extreme and crazy become natural and expected. I didn’t think twice about doing a lot of things I would never do today.

There is a lot to admire about the activists I befriended. They have only the best intentions.

They are selfless and dedicated to doing what they think is right, even at great personal sacrifice.

Sadly, in this case their conscience has betrayed them. My conscience betrayed me. It was only when I finally gave myself permission to be selfish, after

8 | OPINIONS |

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

months and months of grinding on despite being horribly burnt out, that I eventually achieved the critical distance to rethink my political beliefs.

Anti-intellectualism was the one facet of this worldview I could never fully stomach.

Anti-intellectualism is a pill I swallowed, but it got caught in my throat, and that would eventually save me. It comes in a few forms.

Activists in these circles often express disdain for theory because they take theoretical issues to be idle sudoku puzzles far removed from the real issues on the ground.

This is what led one friend of mine to say, in anger and disbelief, “People’s lives aren’t some theoretical issue!”

That same person also declared allegiance to a large number of theories about people’s lives, which reveals something important.

Almost everything we do depends on one theoretical belief or another, which range from simple to complex and from implicit to explicit.

A theoretical issue is just a general or fundamental question about something that we find important enough to think about. Theoretical issues include ethical issues, issues of political philosophy and issues about the ontological status of gender, race and disability. Ultimately, it’s hard to draw a clear line between theorizing and thinking in general. Disdain for thinking is ludicrous, and no one would ever express it if they knew that’s what they were doing.

Specifically on the radical leftist side of things, one problem created by this anti-theoretical bent is a lot of rhetoric and bluster, a lot of passionate railing against the world or some aspect of it, without a clear, detailed, concrete alternative. There was a common excuse for this.

As an activist friend wrote in an email, “The present organization of society fatally impairs our ability to imagine meaningful alternatives.

As such, constructive proposals will simply end up reproducing present relations.” This claim is couched in theoretical language, but it is a rationale for not theorizing about political alternatives. For a long time I accepted this rationale. Then I realized that mere opposition to the status quo wasn’t enough to distinguish us from nihilists. In the software industry, a hyped-up piece of software that never actually gets released is called “vapourware.” We should be wary of political vapourware. If somebody’s alternative to the status quo is nothing, or at least nothing very specific, then what are they even talking about? They are hawking political vapourware, giving a “sales pitch” for something that doesn’t even exist.

Anti-intellectualism also comes out in full force on the anti-oppressive side of things. It manifests itself in the view that knowledge not just about what oppression, is like, but also knowledge about all the ethical questions pertaining to oppression is accessible only through personal experience. The answers to these ethical questions are treated as a matter of private revelation. In the academic field of ethics, ethical claims are judged on the strength of their arguments, a form of public revelation. Some activists find this approach intolerable.

Perhaps the most deeply held tenet of a certain version of anti-op-

pressive politics — which is by no means the only version — is that members of an oppressed group are infallible in what they say about the oppression faced by that group.

This tenet stems from the wise rule of thumb that marginalized groups must be allowed to speak for themselves. But it takes that rule of thumb to an unwieldy extreme.

People who belong to oppressed groups are just people, with thoughts ultimately as fallible as anyone else’s.

They aren’t oracles who dispense eternal wisdom. Ironically, this principle of infallibility, designed to combat oppression, has allowed essentialism to creep in.

Let me give an example. A gay person is typically much better acquainted with homophobia than a straight person. Moreover, a gay person has a much greater stake in what society does about homophobia, so their view on the matter is more important. However, there is nothing about the experience of being gay in itself that enlightens a gay person about the ethics of sexual orientation.

To take a dead simple case, you don’t have to hear it from a gay person to know that homosexuality is ethically just fine. If you’re a straight person and a gay person tells you

that homosexuality is wrong, you can be confident in your judgement that they are full of shit. In this situation, the straight person is right and the gay person is wrong about homosexuality and homophobia.

Gay people have no special access to ethical knowledge, in general or about sexual orientation specifically.

Gay people do tend to have better ethical knowledge about sexual orientation than straight people, but that is only because of how our life circumstances move us to reflect on it.

If I said the same thing about another context that isn’t so simple — when the correct opinion isn’t so obvious — I would be roundly condemned. But the example’s simplicity isn’t what makes it valid. People who belong to oppressed groups are just people, with thoughts ultimately as fallible as anyone else’s. They aren’t oracles who dispense eternal wisdom. Ironically, this principle of infallibility, designed to combat oppression, has allowed essentialism to creep in. The trait that defines a person’s group membership is treated as a source of innate ethical knowledge. This is to say nothing about the broader problem of how you’re supposed to decide who’s a source of innate knowledge.

Certainly not someone who innately “knows” that homosexuality is disgusting and wrong, but why not, if you’re simply relying on private revelation rather than public criteria?

Consider otherkin, people who believe they are literally animals or magical creatures and who use the concepts and language of anti-oppressive politics to talk about themselves. I have no problem drawing my own conclusions about the lived experience of otherkin. Nobody is literally a honeybee or a dragon.

We have to assess claims about oppression based on more than just what people say about themselves.

If I took the idea of the infallibility of the oppressed seriously, I would have to trust that dragons exist.

That is why it’s such an unreliable guide. (I half-expect the response, “Check your human privilege!”)

It is an ominous sign whenever a political movement dispenses with methods and approaches of gaining knowledge that are anchored to public revelation and, moreover, becomes openly hostile to them. Anti-intellectualism and a corresponding reliance on innate knowledge

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is one of the hallmarks of a cult or a totalitarian ideology.

Anti-intellectualism was the one facet of this worldview I could never fully stomach. I was dogmatic, I fell prey to groupthink and I had a crusader mentality, but I was never completely anti-intellectual. Ever since I was a child, the pursuit of knowledge has felt like my calling.

It’s part of who I am. I could never turn my back on it. At least not completely. And that was the crack through which the light came in.

My love for deep reflection and systematic thinking never ceased.

Almost by accident, I took time off from being an activist. I spent time just trying to be happy and at peace, far away from Montreal. It had been a long while since I had the time and the freedom to just think. At first, I pulled on a few threads, and then with that eventually the whole thing unravelled. Slowly, my political worldview collapsed in on itself.

The aftermath was wonderful. A world that seemed grey and hopeless filled with colour. I can’t convey to you how bleak my worldview was.

An activist friend once said to me, with complete sincerity, “Everything is problematic.” That was the general consensus. Far bleaker was something I said during a phone call to an old friend who lived in another city, far outside my political world.

I, like a disproportionate number of radical leftists, was depressed, and spent a lot of time sighing into the receiver. “I’m not worried about you killing yourself,” he said. “I know you want to live forever.” I let out a weak, sad laugh. “When I said that,” I replied, “I was a lot happier than I am now.” Losing my political ideology was extremely liberating. I became a happier person. I also believe that I became a better person.

I’ve just said a lot of negative things. But, of course, my goal here is to do something positive. I’m cursing the darkness in the hope of seeing the light of a new day. Still, I don’t want to just criticize without offering an alternative. So, let me give a few pieces of constructive advice to anyone interested in anti-oppressive and/or leftist activism.

First, embrace humility. You may find it refreshing. Others will find it refreshing too. Be forceful, be impassioned, just don’t get too high on your own supply. Don’t drink your own kool aid. Question yourself as fiercely as you question society.

Second, treat people as individuals. For instance, don’t treat every person who belongs to an oppressed group as an authoritative mouthpiece of that group as a whole.

People aren’t plugged into some kind of hive mind. Treating them like they are, besides being essentialist, also leads to contradictions since, obviously, not all people agree on all things. There is no shortcut that allows you to avoid thinking for yourself about oppression simply by deferring to the judgements of others. You have to decide whose judgements you are going to trust, and that comes to the same thing as judging for yourself. This drops a huge responsibility on your lap.

Grasp the nettle firmly. Accept the responsibility and hone your thinking. Notice contradictions and logical fallacies. When you hear an opinion about a kind of oppression from a member of the group that experiences it, seek out countervailing opinions from members of the same group and weigh them against each other. Don’t be afraid to have original insights.

Third, learn to be diplomatic.

Not everything is a war of good versus evil. Reasonable, informed, conscientious people often disagree about important ethical issues.

People are going to have different conceptions of what being anti-oppressive entails, so get used to disagreement. When it comes to moral disagreements, disbelief, anger and a sense of urgency are to be expected. They are inherent parts of moral disagreement. That’s what makes a diplomatic touch so necessary. Otherwise, everything turns into a shouting match.

Fourth, take a systems approach to the political spectrum. Treat the pursuit of the best kind of society as an engineering problem. Think about specific, concrete proposals.

Would they actually work? Deconflate desirability and feasibility.

Refine your categories beyond simple dichotomies like capitalism/ socialism or statism/anarchism.

I am not going to let my disillusionment with my past activism discourage me from trying to do good in the future. If you find yourself similarly disillusioned, take heart. As long as you learn from your mistakes, no one can blame you for trying to be a good person. Don’t worry. We all get to come back. U

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 |

EDITOR JACK HAUEN

9

Late scholarship payouts leave varsity “All our scholathletes looking for answers arships are for

Words and Photos by Will McDonald While the football team dealt with missing the playoffs and losing their head coach, players were left wondering when they would receive their scholarships.

Several team members, as well as former head coach Shawn Olson said football scholarships usually come in by mid to late October. A number of players didn’t receive their scholarships, which can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, until Nov. 21 this year.

Several players on the team, all of whom would only speak on the condition of anonymity due to potential backlash, confirmed their scholarships were later than expected.

They also said the athletics department wasn’t forthcoming about why the scholarships were late, and they were told they would receive their scholarships by several deadlines, most of which were pushed back. After a few delays, the department told football players they would get their scholarships by Nov. 21.

“Some people are basically calling the varsity department every day and they’re like ‘I can’t pay my rent unless I have a scholarship,’ and the best they can say is, ‘Oh, well, I can write you a letter saying the scholarship is coming and you can give that to your landlord,’” said one player on Nov. 20. “[It] is just absolutely unacceptable. People are trying to live at university and they can’t even pay their rent,” he said.

When contacted for comment on Nov. 21, Director, Operations and Student-Athlete Services for UBC Athletics Theresa Hanson apologized for the delays, and said most of the submitted scholarships would be given out by that afternoon.

“It’s not our typical standard of excellence that we like to achieve.

But we are working towards resolving it…. Most all the awards will be assigned by the end of today,” she said.

“[It] is just abso-

lutely unacceptable.

People are trying to

live at university and they can’t even pay their rent.”

Hanson said some changes in internal processes, including transferring funds and staff in both athletics and the awards office contributed to the delay.

“The awards process is quite complicated and I’m not comfortable going through all the different steps we have to take to allocate awards. At the end of the day, we’re very sorry that it’s been late,” said Hanson.

Each year, coaches are told they have a certain amount of scholarship money to distribute to their athletes. They submit a breakdown of the money to the athletics department, and eventually the money is given to athletes in the form of a credit they can apply to their tuition. If the scholarship exceeds their tuition, they are given a cheque for the remainder, according to veterans of the team.

Hanson said there are a number of dates when coaches can submit scholarship requests, and the actual dates of submissions and paying out scholarships vary from season to season and from team to team.

Olson said his scholarships were typically given out by the end of October at the latest. He said he submitted his scholarships in September as usual, though, as far as he knew, no players had received their money by the date he was fired in early November.

“No one had got their scholarships and then they fired our coach two days after our last game, so…. The first thing I thought is,

“No one had got their scholarships and then they fired our coach two days after our last game, so….

The first thing I thought is, ‘am I getting my scholarship?’”

‘am I getting my scholarship?’” said a member of the team.

Olson said the allocation of scholarships was out of his hands after he made his submissions in September.

“It’s a finance issue…. Once they’re submitted, then it’s a matter of it going through the financial process, whatever that means, on the university side. I don’t know exactly what that process is, but this year, it’s taken significantly longer than past years for sure,” said Olson.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s just an athletics thing either. At some level it goes beyond athletics, and there’s bureaucracy that is inherent in any large organization and that’s where the answers lie,” he said.

Hanson emphasized that athletics scholarships are meant to cover academic costs, not pay rent or basic living expenses. She said the athletics department deferred late fees for student athletes who weren’t able to pay their tuition because they hadn’t received scholarships.

“All our scholarships are for tuition and fees. If a student athlete hasn’t been able to pay their rent for example, I think that’s a total different situation,” said Hanson.

However, a number of players on the football team paid out their tuition in advance with their own money. When the scholarships didn’t come in as they expected, they were left strapped for cash.

“There’s a few guys living in Totem that hadn’t gotten [their scholarships], and they received eviction notices from UBC Housing. So it goes to show you how screwed up [it is], how none of the departments even talk to each other. They didn’t get evicted, but they had to go deal with that, and my head coach had to go fight their battle for them,” said one fourthyear veteran of the team.

Olson said similar situations have occurred before, and they are often easily solved by a bit of communication.

“I’m very familiar with that situation amongst the players because it creates a lot stress. There

tuition and fees. If a student athlete hasn’t been able to pay their rent, for example, I think that’s a total different situation.” already is a lot of stress with the school and season and everything else. It definitely added to that for sure,” said Olson.

A member of the women’s soccer team confirmed their scholarships came in several weeks later than expected, though she said her teammates weren’t seriously affected by the delay.

When contacted for comment from the finance department on the scholarship delays, UBC Public Affairs refused an interview and issued the following statement on Nov. 25: “UBC Athletics knows students awaiting scholarships are anxious to see the funds delivered. The students’ needs are paramount and the delay is unfortunate and regrettable.

However, Athletics is working diligently to see those scholarships presented to the recipients as soon as possible.”

While not every player on the football team suffered due to the delayed scholarships, all of the athletes interviewed for this article said they felt they were kept in the dark on the scholarship allocation process.

“At some point it gets a little ridiculous. Hopefully this whole thing ends up having to put a lot more responsibility on the school and hopefully it doesn’t happen for years to come,” said another member of the team. U

10 | SPORTS |

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

BASKETBALL >>

B-ball men head into break on much-needed positive note PLAYER OF THE

WEEKEND CONOR MORGAN

34 Points

PHOTO PETER SIEMENS/THE UBYSSEY

Top UBC offensive threat Conor Morgan (9) dunks as the Huskies look on.

Jacob Gershkovich Staff Writer Looking to end their early season woes, the UBC men’s basketball team entered the War Memorial Gym on Friday night with a palpable sense of urgency in their step. Sitting in ninth place in the Pioneers division with a 1-5 record, the season hadn’t exactly lived up to expectations.

Winning wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, as UBC was hosting a University of Saskatchewan Huskies team that sat tied for third place in the Pioneers at 4-2.

Fortunately, the Thunderbirds came to play.

We finally got to see what this offence was capable of in the first half of Friday’s matchup. UBC exploded out of the gate. Led by Tommy Nixon, who shot a perfect three-forthree from behind the arc, the home team jumped ahead to a 30-21 lead after one quarter of play.

Nixon has been on fire so far this season. The fifth-year veteran entered the weekend as the team’s leading scorer, averaging 16.3 points over six games. Friday might have been his best performance yet. Nix-

on dominated on both ends of the floor, and finished with 30 points, six assists and four steals.

“It was one of Tommy’s better ones,” said head coach Kevin Hanson. “Offensively, he got into a rhythm, he did some good things defensively as well. He’s been a leader. He’s been worried about the way we’ve been playing, and I thought he was outstanding tonight.”

Kedar Wright made his home court debut after starting the year on the injured reserve. One of the top defenders on this UBC squad, the second-year’s absence was felt heavily. Wright finished the game with eight points in 32 minutes of action.

“I think he played some real solid defence. He’s a guy that’s fearless.

He had the confidence and did some good things on offence, and when we needed stops I thought he did a pretty good job. He adds to our depth, and he’s someone who can lock down an offensive threat on the other side,” said Hanson.

After a frenetic first half of play, an inspired UBC team entered the break with a 58-40 lead, and the much-needed win looked like a sure thing. It most certainly was not.

Defensively, the Thunderbirds collapsed in the second half, allowing the Huskies to slowly crawl their way back into contention.

Communication issues, foul trouble and a general state of disarray plagued UBC’s defence, and the boys entered the fourth quarter with a shrinking 79-68 lead.

Saskatchewan was able to cut UBC’s lead to two at one point in the fourth quarter, but the ‘Birds were able to hold on for their second win of the season, the final score 101-94.

“It was a pretty high-scoring game. We’ve got some real concerns about our defensive effort and what we have to do. It felt like we got beaten on the boards, and that certainly can’t happen against a good scoring team. They can score a lot of points, and we have to find a way to stop them. Obviously you’re happy with the win. Right now, even an ugly win is a good win for us,” said Hanson.

Saskatchewan continued abusing an out of sync UBC defence to open game two on Saturday night. The Huskies evidently made some adjustments and jumped out to an early lead. Led by Jordan Jensen-Whyte, who dropped a quick eight

FOOTBALL >>

points, UBC was able to recover. The home team held on to a slim 25-21 lead after one quarter.

Both teams struggled to gain ground in the second quarter. Contrary to Friday’s offensive onslaught, defence reigned supreme. UBC ended the half with a 43-39 lead and a lot of work left to do.

“We just had to come out and play some defence,” said UBC’s Conor Morgan. “That’s what it came down to.”

Morgan emphatically reminded the home town crowd of his offensive capabilities in the third quarter.

After forcing a Huskies turnover on defence, Morgan caught a long pass from Tommy Nixon and drove hard to the rim. He leapt for the dunk and was fouled hard in mid-air by a Saskatchewan defender. Miraculously, Morgan absorbed the contact and was able to finish the play in mid-air for the and-one.

“I honestly didn’t even know the ball went in,” said Morgan. “I just hit the crash pads thinking I was going to go shoot two, and then Kedar came over and told me I made it. I was pretty excited.”

After under-performing to begin the year, Morgan put together

‘Birds Davis and Dale named all-Canadians Jack Hauen Sports and Rec Editor

Rookie Marcus Davis (5) was one of the T-Birds’ top performers this season.

back-to-back 17-point performances against Saskatchewan. The secondyear out of Victoria led the team in scoring this preseason, and will look to build off of this weekend’s output.

UBC’s Andrew McGuinness went 10 for 14 from the field for 25 points.

The precision shooter was dialed in, especially in the fourth quarter when his team needed him most.

Things got a little heated near the end of the game. Battling for position in the paint, UBC’s Tonner Jackson and Saskatchewan’s Ben Baker fell to the floor. Some pleasantries were exchanged. Technical fouls were received.

After all was said and done, UBC sent the Huskies home with their tails between their legs. The final score: 99-75 for the home team.

UBC won’t see any action until 2015, when they head to the University of Lethbridge to take on the 5-5 Lancers. Entering the Christmas break with a 3-5 record, the ‘Birds have a lot to think about. This men’s team will need to do some serious damage in a competitive Pioneers division, and Morgan is all business.

“We’ve got training camp coming up. We’re going to work hard. We’re going to play some defence.” U

PHOTO WILL MCDONALD/THE UBYSSEY

In an awards gala held in Montreal as part of the 50th Vanier Cup celebrations, Thunderbird football players Marcus Davis and Donovan Dale were honoured as All-Canadians.

First-year kick returner and Victoria native Davis was named to the first team special teams category. Davis was the sole rookie in the top constellation of honorees and was a force for the ‘Birds all season long, rushing for 159 yards on 21 attempts for an average gain of 7.6 and scoring two touchdowns in eight games played.

Second-year defensive tackle Donovan Dale, a Saskatoon native, was named to the second all-Canadian team. Dale was responsible for 22 solo tackles, 18 assists, three of the Thunderbirds’ eight sacks (for a total of 14 yards) and six tackles for a loss of 22 total yards.

It’s some good news after a rough season for this battered UBC team that saw them go 2-6, finish last in the Canada West and lose their head coach. Things may not be all roses and sunshine for the ‘Birds looking at an unsure 2015/16 season, but a couple of young stalwart players to lead the way in the future is a good sign for the coming years. U

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

BASKETBALL >>

‘Birds split with Huskies

The ‘Birds came out this past Friday night with an energetic start to grind out the win against the Huskies 70-60, led by Harlene Sidhu, Kris Young and Adrienne Parkin who combined for 43 points.

Saturday night was a different story, as the Thunderbirds were handed a 62-75 loss.

“Why get twos when you could get threes?” was the mindset for the University of Saskatchewan the second night. The Huskies were 53.3% behind the arc, led by Kelsey Truslrud (3-3) and Laura Dally (2-5).

The visitors came out firing from beyond the arc in the first half. UBC had a tough time keeping up with the Huskies’ quick ball movement, orchestrated by Kabree Howard, leading to easy three-balls — they were 5-7 from deep in the first half.

UBC’s Sidhu struggled with her shot in the first half but was still able to rack up eight points.

She and the rest of the ‘Birds had a hard time finishing in the lane, missing open shots from in close. Young was the fundamental reason why the Thunderbirds were still in the game after two quarters. Young was able to get 12 points and lead the team up the floor with ease.

The Huskies led going into the second half, 39-28. The Thunderbirds were able to trickle out of the opening half, fortunately, behind by only 11, but things could’ve been much worse. Disrupting any rotation the ‘Birds had, Dallas Emmerson seemed to creep her way into the key and UBC had no weapons to stop her. Emmerson relentlessly penetrated down low leading Saskatchewan with 18 points.

The second half began with Sidhu hitting two quick jumpers.

But the first half dominance on the boards continued for the Huskies, as Emmerson led the team with eight rebounds.

HOCKEY >>

Thunderbird hockey in tailspin

PHOTO PETER SIEMENS/THE UBYSSEY

Harleen Sidhu (15) fights for the ball in the paint.

Mason McIntosh Staff Writer

| SPORTS | 11

The University of Saskatchewan had ball luck Saturday night; they couldn’t miss. All the bounces were going their way and it completely threw UBC for a loop.

The Thunderbirds were missing wide-open players, whether it was Young cutting at the top of the key, or Diana Lee shouting for the ball in the corner.

UBC held their own for most of the game; Young led the team with 20 points, shooting 8-17 from the field and right behind her was Sidhu who added 18 of her own. The T-Bird bench was shut down by an aggressive Huskies press. Adrienna Parkin did her part by hitting shots when the team needed her most, but her D was a little too much for the refs, who handed her five fouls. Cassandra Knievel also had a strong game, with back-toback smooth threes in the second half that left the crowd in awe.

The Thunderbirds lacked a team effort on Saturday, with eight players going scoreless; the Huskies had only one player who did not score any of their 79 points.

“They out-rebounded us, some players hit some big shots for them, we were flat,” said coach Huband. “Their defensive strategy gave us a hard time, we didn’t bring the energy that we needed to execute how we wanted.”

Huband isn’t trying to change the ‘Birds games against the University of Lethbridge next weekend, but chastised her team for its failure to stick to the game plan.

“We didn’t run our offence well, our movement was lethargic, we need more contributions from everybody on the floor.”

Though Saturday’s game didn’t get them the result they wanted, they head into the winter break with a situation far from critical: the ‘Birds have half of the available points from this weekend and a tie for fourth in the Canada West.

This team has a chance to leapfrog into second place with a couple wins in the new year — time will tell if they can capitalize. U

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Fifth-year UBC forward Nikola Brown-John (16) forechecks the Dinos in the neutral zone.

Jenny Tang Staff Writer UBC finished their year with a double loss to the University of Calgary, growing their losing streak five in a row in the regular season.

The Dinos definitely earned their weekend sweep, with fourtime Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser and Canada West leading scorer Iya Gavrilova at the front lines, both of whom scored game-winning goals over the weekend.

On Friday the ‘Birds suffered an overtime loss after Dino Gavrilova popped in the winning goal three minutes into the extra minutes.

Gavrilova beat ‘Bird’s goalie Katie Greenway, who was playing for the Thunderbirds for the first time this season.

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Greenway, who replaced Samantha Langford in the second period, went on to make 11 saves out of the 13 shots fired at her.

On Saturday the ‘Birds were looking to redeem themselves in the last game of 2014, but couldn’t manage a victory.

The Thunderbirds had plenty of opportunities to score during the first period as they dominated the majority of the play, but could not convert on the five power plays they received. The Dinos spent more time in the first period with four players on the ice rather than five.

By the third period the ‘Birds were down 1-0, but ‘Bird Stefanie Schaupmeyer managed to equalize by banging in a loose puck from a save Dino Goalie Hayley Dowling had made against Tatiana Rafter.

This was Schaupmeyer’s first goal of the season.

PHOTO STEVEN DURFEE/THE UBYSSEY

However the Dinos were quick to respond; Wickenheiser slapped the puck past goalie Samantha Langford into the back of the net a few seconds later to bring the score 2-1. The Dinos then held on to their lead to win the game and the weekend.

Langford stopped 24 of 26 shots fired at her, while her counterpart Dowling made 25 saves. In the second period, the Dinos outshot the ‘Birds 15-4.

This weekend pushes UBC into fifth place in the Canada West League with 26 points, whereas Calgary has shot up into first place with 30. Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan follow closely behind with 29 points each.

UBC will be taking a break for the holidays, but will return in the new year on January 9 to play the Mount Royal Cougars at home. U

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12 | GAMES |

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014

Photo of the Day

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN Hypothermia included.

CHERIHAN HASSUN PHOTOGRAPHY

NOV 27 ANSWERS

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NOV 27 ANSWERS

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