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THE UBYSSEY
2024/25 enrolment report shows fewer applicants
Get Thrifty hosts fashion show Zietgeist
UBC researchers discover new neuron 06
Condemning the university’s stance on divestment
Race walking alum sets world record
CULTURE
OPINION
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Editorial
THE UBYSSEY
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Abbie Lee, Adriel Yusgiantoro, Annaliese Gumboc, Armaana Thapar, Ayla Cilliers, Bernice Wong, Caleb Peterson, Corwin Davidson, Emilia Onar, Evie Hamilton, Guntas Kaur, Himanaya Bajaj, Isabella Ma, Ishaan Choudhury, Jocelyn Baker, Joyce Park, Julian Forst, JungJoo Kim, Katja Radovic-Jonsson, Kyla Flynn, Luiza Teixeira, Maia Cesario, Marie Erikson, Maya Tommasi, Micah Sébastien Zhang, Mrinali Ghosh, Natalie Vakulin, Navya Chadha, Nikhail Thakker, Olivia Vos, Paloma Green, Rhea Krishna, Sam Low, Shubhreet Dadrao, Sidney Shaw, Sofia Campanholo, Sophia Russo, Sophia Samilski, Stella Griffin, Thea Turner, Tiana Khandelwal, Vicky Nguyen, Yomna Bedaiwy, Zoe Wagner
(Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh
(Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, harassment or discrimination. Authors and/or submissions will not be precluded from publication based solely on association with particular ideologies or subject matter that some may find objectionable. Approval for publication is, however, dependent on the quality of the argument and The Ubyssey editorial board’s judgment of appropriate content. Submissions may be sent by email to opinion@ ubyssey.ca. Please include your student number or other proof of
COVER
EMILĪJA V HARRISON
Attend the UPS annual general meeting
The Ubyssey Publications Society’s Board of Directors’ annual general meeting (AGM) will take place on April 18 at 2 p.m. The location will be announced on The Ubyssey ’s website closer to the date.
As a registered non-profit society, independent from UBC and the AMS, this AGM is your chance for students to become more involved in The Ubyssey ’s business side, as well as a chance to voice your opinions on its direction. The Board of Directors is not involved in writing or editing at The Ubyssey
All members of the Ubyssey Publications Society (UPS) are welcome to attend and speak at the meeting — you’re a member of the UPS if you paid The Ubyssey ’s student fee this year. U
OUR CAMPUS
Dr. Yves Tiberghien dewesternizes political theory and encourages students to uncover their genius
Anushka Bellani Contributor
Dr. Yves Tiberghien remembers the “gruesome” weeks-long eighthour exams and preparation he and other French high school students did to get into 'grandes écoles,' specialized higher education institutions that follow seconday education in France.
“The old French system about those elite exams is very, very harsh,” he said.
Tiberghien happened to be good at math, so he was encouraged to pursue engineering.
“But I refused that because I loved history and I loved languages,” he said. “I was this open, curious person.”
Tiberghien ended up in prep school for social sciences, which he described as being more like a a business school.
The institution attracted the best students in the country, but Tiberghien felt it lacked knowledge of psychology and learning principles. Instructors would often resort to punishment, shaming and hazing students as disciplinary practice.
The drive to embody the opposite of these experiences motivated Tiberghien to leverage compassion and innovative instruction techniques in his teaching to encourage curiosity and creativity, borrowing from his adventures around the world and the lived experiences he observed along the way.
A BACKPACK, A NOTEBOOK AND CURIOSITY
As one of the only students in his cohort to do all three international programs that existed at his school, including an extra year studying genetic engineering in the US, Tiberghien began exploring the world and has not stopped since.
He followed up this exchange with hitchhiking across the US and a semester abroad at London Business School, after which two years of French service awaited him. At the time, as an alternative to enlisting in the army, France allowed citizens to work for French companies abroad in the form of civilian service. This took Tiberghien to Japan.
“I had a lot of incredible experiences, but [they were] also incredibly humanly enriching,” he said.
During his time in Japan, while working full-time and trying to build a life someplace new, Tiberghien kept dreaming.
“I went alone on a small island in Japan, and I wrote a 100-page book in a whole night there, with my long-term dreams, my vision, my plan. And I was discovering that I'm most interested in questions of peace and justice and international relations,” he recounted. “But here I was working in Michelin Tire in Japan — still a long way.”
To put his clarity into motion, Tiberghien lived a double life — he’d work in the day and take evening social justice classes.
Eventually, Tiberghien resigned from Michelin and spent a year travelling across Asia — him, his backpack, a notebook and a desire to meet new people and learn more about the world.
Once he began his master’s in international relations at Stanford University, he wrote to the director of the program, “I'm doing this for peace, justice ... My plan is to develop great ideas and then later, hopefully have a role in helping the world toward a better pathway.” Tiberghien did not get the response he thought he would.
“‘That's not what we do here. You're in the wrong place. We're here to do social science modelling. You can't care about the world. If you care, you won't do good social science,’” he said, recalling the preconceived notions he heard from others in the program.
But that didn’t stop him. Tiberghien ended up staying at Stanford for his PhD, fuelled by his endeavours to incorporate care and responsibility into political science and international relations.
"If we don't care at all about the outcome, we're missing a lot of what could be done."
POLITICS, HOPE AND HAPPINESS
Created by Dr. Barbara Arneil in 1998, POLI 100 is the first introduction UBC students have to university-level political science. This term, Tiberghien was asked to teach it as well.
His work with high levels of government advising and coming to the course post-pandemic shaped his approach to refining the course Introduction to Political Science: The Politics of Hope and Happiness. He said 100-level courses tend to be “supply-driven.”
“Here's the theory you need to know — this is the canon of
political science. I wanted to instead start from empirical puzzles that young people care about,” he said. “Why is there polarization in society? Or why did some cultures colonize others … when they had similar power?”
Interdisciplinarity helps Tiberghien situate political science in “what brings happiness, how we can really free our genius and our sense of freedom and who we want to be.”
For Tiberghien, POLI 100 is not merely about the fundamentals of political science in Canada. He hopes to combat the eurocentric lens with which it is often taught by broadening the ideas and thinkers he brings to class. In addition to Machiavelli and Plato, Tiberghien brings ideas from Mencius and Ashoka and reshapes ideas usually understood as the “norm” as being merely western-centric.
Studying political science is also where youth can come together to learn about themselves and their intersectional positionality in the world.
“Each of us has to discover our own genius. Society usually squashes that genius,” he said. “[University] is also about wellbeing, about mental health. So I feel responsible for all of that.”
Tiberghien’s POLI 100 lecture after Trump's inauguration began with the MoveU crew getting the students on their feet and moving their bodies. Structured on his belief that if we are kind to ourselves, we are more likely to be kinder to others, such activities are part of his mission to incorporate wellbeing and positive mental health into the ways in which students engage with the world around them.
“I tried to do a completely novel approach to [the course] by starting right from the get-go with wellbeing, mental health, also our relation with social media, relation with AI, engage everyone where they come from," he said. "And also try to transmit all the tips I've learned from many disciplines." U
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
Interdisciplinarity helps Tiberghien situate political science.
First UBC student diversity census shows a quarter of respondents face barriers to formal diagnosis
Ava Cervas Contributor
UBC released its first ever Student Diversity Census Report (SDC) with 32 per cent of UBC students across both campuses responding to the survey.
In gathering demographic data on the student population, both Okanagan and Vancouver campuses were surveyed from September to November 2024. Of the 72,692 eligible respondents, 32 per cent of UBC’s student body provided answers relating to sexual orientation, gender and trans experience, ethno-racial identity and more.
Chief Institutional Research Officer Stephanie McKeown said the report was initiated back in 2021 with the help of UBC’s Equity and Inclusion Office, Enrolment Services and data offices.
“It became a really wonderful partnership between these four units,” she said in an interview with The Ubyssey.
Associate Vice President,
Equity and Inclusion Arig al Shaibah said despite it seeming like UBC had taken a long time to start collecting this type of data, people at UBC have been thinking about this data, and the SDC was to centralize all this information.
McKeown also noted the priority of community engagement and transparency. Student focus groups were pivotal to the survey during its early stages, with developers constantly asking, “Did we hear you correctly? Did we get the message right?”
WHAT STUDENTS HAD TO SAY
According to the report, the SDC questions on gender and trans experience followed the BC provincial data standard. Students were given the opportunity to self-identify as “man,” “non-binary,” “woman” or “choose not to disclose.”
A majority of respondents, 53.1 per cent, identified as women. 4.2 per cent of respondents reported having trans experience, and of
these individuals, 20.7 per cent also identified as non-binary, 2SLGBTQIA+, disabled people or people living with disabilities.
Students were able to express their ethno-racial identities through self-selection.
Per campus, 57.3 per cent of UBCO students selected white as an identifier, with 52.8 per cent identifying exclusively as white. Additionally, 42.8 per cent of respondents identified with at least one Black and People of Colour (BPoC) identity.
At UBCV, 32.4 per cent of respondents identified exclusively as white and 25.9 per cent with an exclusively East Asian identity. Compared to UBCO, a higher number of students — 63.1 per cent — identified with at least one BPoC identity at UBCV.
Five hundred and seventy nine student respondents identified as Indigenous, listing over 300 different Communities and Nations they have connections to.
The SDC gave students the opportunity to identify with one
or two models of disability: social, addressing barriers of adversity, or legal, reliant on UBC’s Disability Accommodation Policy.
“Shifting the definition with respect to disability and how that invites greater identification was really interesting,” said al Shaibah.
Students who identified as disabled persons or persons living with disabilities were asked about encountered attitudinal and/or environmental barriers to their participation. 64.9 per cent indicated experiencing 2 or more barriers, and 33.1 per cent specified 5 or more.
52.9 per cent reported a formal diagnosis for all conditions, with 47.9 per cent of respondents being undiagnosed for at least some of their conditions.
31.1 per cent of students are currently obtaining a formal diagnosis, while 24.6 per cent are facing barriers to receiving a formal diagnosis. Some respondents, 15.8 per cent, report that they do not have a formal diagnosis nor
are currently seeking a diagnosis. Such documentation is essential in receiving accommodations with the Centre for Accessibility at UBC, as stated in its Disability Accommodation Policy.
19.8 per cent, or 1 in 5, UBCV students were identified as first-generation university students — with their most highly educated guardian having less than a bachelor’s degree. At UBCO, it’s 25.3 per cent, or 1 in 4 students.
According to the report, UBC plans to apply this newfound demographic information to future policies, decisions and admission processes.
al Shaibah said the survey will help them understand which demographics were represented and which weren’t, and UBC will adjust their recruitment strategies accordingly.
Moving forward, UBC also aims to increase participation in the SDC by making the survey more accessible and mobile-friendly for participation. U
UBC’s 2024/25 enrolment report shows fewer applicants, higher admission rates
Viyan Handley & Anna Zimmermann News Editor & Contributor
Each year, UBC compiles and releases a report on student admission, enrolment and retention rates. The Ubyssey, in accordance, annually breaks down that 60+ page document.
Here’s a summary of some of the information filed in the latest report for UBC’s 2024/25 academic year.
UBC ADMISSION STATS AND PROCESS
UBC reviewed around 49,000 undergraduate applications this year, a decline from the number they reviewed last year, which was just over 52,000. A notable factor of the decline was UBC’s receival of 878 fewer applications from international students.
UBC Vancouver (UBCV) admitted 27,647 of its 43,992 undergraduate applicants, marking a 62.8 per cent admission rate. UBC Okanagan (UBCO), comparatively, admitted 4,299 of its 5,293 applicants, marking a higher admission rate of 81.2 per cent. Both rates are up from those of last year’s admission cycle, which sat at 52 and 76 per cent, respectively.
UBC has used a broad-based admissions process since 2012. This means UBC requires applicants to submit a personal profile in addition to their high school grades.
“UBC looks at each prospective student as a whole person: a combination of talents, interests, and passions,” the report reads. This is to help “select students who are the most likely to succeed in their learning and to thrive on campus.”
According to the report, profile review consists of reading and scoring by a team of over 300 UBC staff, faculty and alumni. Consistent with last year’s figure, UBC estimates it would have denied around 12 per cent of admitted applicants entry had they used a grades-only admission model.
Grades remain influential to admission though, and the average
entrance grade range for UBCV sits at 89–91 per cent while UBCO’s sits at 85–87 per cent.
UBC BY NUMBERS AND DEMOGRAPHICS
Counting students in both undergraduate and graduate degrees, UBCV has a total of 60,944 students while UBCO reported an enrolment of 11,748 students — this makes for a combined total of 72,692 students.
UBCV’s 60,944 students is made up of 35,773 domestic undergraduate students, 12,083 international undergraduates, 7,024 domestic graduate students, 4,270 international graduate students and 1,794 residents. According to the report, the residents category accounts for all residents in the Faculties of Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
UBCO’s 11,748 students is made up of 8,692 domestic undergraduate students, 1,714 international undergraduates, 739 domestic graduate students and 603 international graduate students.
UBC students come from around the world, with international students holding citizenship of over 155 countries. About 32 per cent of UBCV’s international students this year hold Chinese citizenship, with India holding second place at around 14 per cent of students holding citizenship and the US third, with around 9 per cent.
The federal government’s intake cap on international study permit applications went into effect this past September, and it seemed to have an impact as this year, as the Okanagan campus saw a 10 per cent decrease in international student enrolment. The Vancouver campus saw a 4 per cent decrease. UBCV’s most substantive drop in international enrolment from last year was in the number of students with Indian citizenship, as it enrolled 492 less Indian students.
“Canada’s positioning as a welcoming country for international students has significantly worsened in 2024,” the report reads. “Rapidly
changing immigration policies, unresolved and ongoing geopolitical tensions with key sending countries, particularly India … have not gone unnoticed in regions with prospective international students.”
While international enrolment fell this year, Indigenous representation rose. Last year, UBC enrolled a total of 2,385 Indigenous students — this year that bumped up in a 4.8 per cent increase to 2,500, with 1,713 Indigenous students at UBCV and 787 at UBCO. According to the report, the number of Indigenous students conferred a UBC degree has increased by 57 per cent from 2020.
In gender and age statistics for the 2024/25 academic year, women on both campuses represented a small majority. Additionally, the majority of undergraduate students across both campuses were 25 or under, and the largest proportion of graduate students ranged from 26–30 years old.
STUDENT RETENTION
Retention rates at UBC stayed strong this year with the report finding 90 per cent of the 2023/24 Okanagan first-year undergraduate cohort and 95 per cent of the Vancouver first-year undergraduate cohort returned in 2024/25.
Like last year, Indigenous student retention rates remained slightly lower with 89 per cent of UBCO and 93 per cent of UBCV first years returning after the first year of their undergraduate degree.
Continuing the trend The Ubyssey noted in 2023, most undergraduate students at UBCV completed their degrees in 4.7 years — up from the 4.5 reported last year. According to the report, the majority of graduate students at UBCV complete their PhD within six years. Accordingly, the Graduate Student Society repeated its 2023 call this year to increase PhD stipends from four years to five. PhD students currently receive a stipend of $24,000 each year for four years. The poverty line in BC is $26,000. U
UBC reviewed around 49,000 undergraduate applications this year.
EMILĪJA V HARRISON / THE UBYSSEY
Léa Taranto’s debut YA novel A Drop in the Ocean is an honest depiction of adolescent mental illness
Natalie Vakulin Senior Staff Reporter
This article discusses self-harm, eating disorders and mental illness.
Mental illness is an experience that varies drastically from person to person — but the importance of receiving and accepting help is true for perhaps everyone.
UBC creative writing alum Léa Taranto’s debut novel, A Drop in the Ocean, is based on her personal experiences, showing how the right help at the right time, if accepted, can save a life. In a more subtle way, Taranto also explores the alternative — how harm can also come disguised as help, criticizing aspects of Canadian health care which make mental health services inaccessible or ineffective.
Mira Durand has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anorexia and other simultaneously existing disorders. She is also a daughter, a friend, an aspiring writer and one of the teens who affectionately call the Residency Adolescent Treatment Centre simply, the Residence. The latest in a string of psychiatric wards, Mira is equipped for her move to the most secure ward of the Residence with a journal full of stories and an only slightly shorter string of swears for the staff.
Her story contains many aspects of very teenager’s life — crushes, school, loss, family. Throughout all
RECYCLED REALNESS //
of it is her OCD that at times seems to control her life. Compulsions, self-harm and rituals permeate into everything that Mira does, but she finds comfort in words, bonding with staff over a shared love of fantasy.
Mira’s relationships, including those formed at the Residence, are at the forefront of the story. These interactions are what bring out the undeniable realness of the almost memoir-like novel. A best friend called Sweets, a nerdy optimist for a therapist and a first love are just some of the significant people that cause Mira to shift toward healing.
Her large family includes a seemingly perfect cousin and her frail grandparents. It is in the passages with her family, and especially with her mother, that a raw genuinity winds between the lines. Mira and her mother overflow with love toward one another, but their relationship is also riddled with guilt. This relationship is where the tender heartbreak of the book unfolds and where the nuance of mental illness and its far-reaching effects are explored.
As Mira traverses loss and failure, she makes the decision to try to get better for the people who care about her. Though not linear and not easy, Mira sets upon a path of resisting some of her compulsions, taking back small liberties from the clutches of her disorders.
When I began reading A Drop in the Ocean, I considered briefly
whether I was supposed to dislike the main character. The book, styled in Mira’s voice, is written in overtly simple prose, at times so full of teenage angst it made me cringe. But suddenly I found myself two-thirds of the way through, finally seeing the humanity and the achingly familiar melodrama of being 16.
The book characterized Mira for what she is — a still-fledgling writer with a story to tell and a struggling teenager trying to navigate a world of pain and love.
I can see how impactful A Drop in the Ocean will be for teenagers, especially those who have had similar experiences to Mira or her “fellow inmates” at the Residence. The book’s accessible writing, poignant passages and heartbreaking rendering of loss and self-hatred make it an important book for young people who are struggling.
The message we are left with is to seek help when we need it and to criticize institutions that are supposed to help us but don’t. The end leaves a bitterly realistic yet hopeful aftertaste. Though mental illness is rarely something that is cured — instead, a constant journey of relapses and recovery — it can get better.
Pay attention to Taranto’s content warning. Though justified and relevant, the text deals with heavy topics through horrific descriptions. And like Taranto urges in her content warning, put your mental health first. U
Get Thrifty hosts student-led fashion show Zeitgeist
Julian Forst Senior Staff Reporter
AMS thrift and consignment store
Get Thrifty brought their fourth annual fashion show to The Gallery on March 4, with a focus on upcycling, fashion circulation and promoting emerging designers from the UBC community.
Zeitgeist: The Essence of Time featured exhibitions of nine collections assembled by student curators specifically for the event, as well as a dinner buffet included in the price of admission.
Before the metaphorical curtain rose, guests milled and mingled on makeshift runways between lines of chairs, many sporting curated looks of their own. Highlights included a handmade wire headpiece strewn with silver butterflies, an exaggerated pair of ripped bell-bottoms and a Canadian tuxedo accented with aquamarine hair extensions.
The Gallery, a new venue for Get Thrifty — whose annual showcases have previously taken place in the Pit or the lower atrium of the Nest — was completely transformed for Zeitgeist. Tables were consolidated into islands through which wound runways lined with chairs. There was no audience section per se, as guests were seated entirely along these runways. Live UBC Electronica DJs spun from the corner stage between exhibitions, and floodlights and photography equipment were set up along the models’ paths. The scale of the production was
impressive, with event lead Max Dahl-Sam saying it took hard work from everyone on the team to reach that point.
“It was hands-on,” he said.
“When we got [to The Gallery], we had about an hour and a half for setup and an hour for teardown … It was all hands on deck, but we have
a fantastic team behind us [with] a diverse range of experience, a lot of ... [them] have worked in Indigenous Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week [and are] very good with backstage management.”
Each of the evening’s collections was preceded by an artist’s statement read by Get Thrifty execs
expanding on the theme of time and how it was explored in the looks on display.
The first series of the night, designed by co-lead curator Rachel Kwong, was entitled Cycle of Life and featured looks representing stages of human development from adolescence to marriage. I found the first few designs, which Kwong based on children’s drawings, as well as the last, which featured an enormous South Asian-inspired shawl along with an eye-catching belt and headpiece, to be the most inspired.
Kwong, in her capacity as colead curator with Ashley Hilbers, also had the responsibility of managing and overseeing her fellow curators as they prepared their collections for Zeitgeist. This involved enforcing deadlines and helping with model booking.
“Affectionately, [we’ve been] on their ass since November,” she said, “‘Get sourcing, get your looks planned, get your models’ … We never want to be nagging them; they’re very self-sufficient. They know when the deadlines are, but we do try to support them the best [we] can, finding items from our closets if they need them.”
Although they were downstairs in the Get Thrifty store working with models and curators instead of pushing tables and carrying chairs, preparations on the night of the show were taxing for Kwong and Hilbers as well.
“There are nine curators and
each has about four to six models. So organizing the logistics of 45 to 50 people can be pretty stressful,” Kwong said. “We love our store [but] it’s not the biggest space, so trying to find different rooms that they can get ready in, [ensuring] that they’re supported with makeup and hair … things like that [were a challenge].”
For the most part, the curators’ efforts paid off. While a few collections verged on repetitive or lacked a strong sense of cohesion, most were original and thematically expanded on the idea of time. A personal favourite was Sophia Anise’s collection Celestial Sways. Loosely based on Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day,” the outfits reflected a sci-fi summer look perfect for the source material’s future colony where the sun only shines once a year.
“The show went better than I could have imagined,” said Kwong. “Every year it gets better and better, and that rush of seeing the show finish … that’ll never get old.”
Although Get Thrifty’s event planning will have to adapt with Dahl-Sam graduating at the end of this year, the other executives are determined to keep the annual fashion shows going well into the future.
“I struggle to put into words how special it is to have a community of close to 40 people dedicated to contributing time, effort, emotional leeway — all of it for a volunteer thrift store,” said Dahl-Sam. U
Zeitgeist included nine collections by student curators.
A Drop in the Ocean will come out on May 20.
COURTESY DANIEL SHEHORI / ARSENAL PULP PRESS
COURTESY GET THRIFTY
THE UBYSSEY’ S YEAR IN REVIEW
Editor’s note
Thanks for picking up this paper and for supporting student journalism. This supplement is a summary of the work our team of editors, staff reporters and contributors have done this year. At the time of this issue’s publication, this year’s team published 837 articles, garnered over 770,000 page views on our website and released 19 print issues across UBC’s Vancouver campus. This year has been a special year for me at The Ubyssey — it is my last. I started reporting for a Ubyssey that met over Zoom.
I’d sit at my computer for hours after my last online class just to hear other journalism dorks talk. Now, I’m lucky to have journalism nerds listen to me.
The paper has changed tremendously since I first started, and this year’s editorial took a specific interest in preparing The Ubyssey for the future. We have a 106-year legacy, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t grow and change. This year, we published stories that amplified community voices, experimented with reporting and print style, built up a new
newsroom culture, established a secure tipline, restructured our editorial board to clarify our positions and responsibilities, wrote and published the firstever Ubyssey editorial journalistic principles and practices and made it easier for our readers to report a correction or submit a complaint.
Despite setbacks, pushback and backlash, student journalism exists and thrives because of people like you. U
— Iman Janmohamed Editor-in-Chief
TOP: Iman Janmohamed, Elena Massing, Lauren Kasowski, Emilīja V Harrison, Fiona Sjaus, Saumya Kamra
BOTTOM: Mahin E Alam, Gloria Klein, Viyan Handley, Aisha Chaudhry, Spencer Izen, Elita Menezes, Sam Low
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
MOST NOTEWORTHY FROM
UBC community begins Palestinian solidarity encampment
Words by Iman Janmohamed & Aisha Chaudhry
Photos by Iman Janmohamed
UBC community began an encampment this morning on MacInnes Field in solidarity with Palestine.
Apr. 29, 2024
UBC transitions to Workday Student, students express frustration
Words by Harleen Kaur
UBC implemented a new student portal, Workday Student, on May 21. Workday Student is now how students can access course registration, grades, transcripts and personal and financial information.
Jun. 6, 2024
Someone ate 2.5 kilograms of peas outside the Nest
Stay at UBC long enough and you start to recognize the little things that make autumn what it is on campus: fragrant petals in the rose garden; the oak trees’ edges turning yellow on the malls; the guy in the green ski-mask vomiting, moaning, absolutely housing two-anda-half kilograms of frozen peas outside the Nest.
Sep. 11, 2024
How donors to the UBC Body Donation Program shape medical training at UBC
Words by Sophia Russo
Illustrations by Adriel Yusgiantoro
Donors to the UBC Body Donation Program are shaping the next generation of medical staff as part of their legacy.
Oct. 3, 2024
2024
Opinion: Why the protesters won’t talk
Words by Anna Pontin
Photos by Iman Janmohamed
“It’s easy for the UBC administration to look like the reasonable adults in the room. And they’re not entirely wrong –conversation and democratic processes can be useful first steps toward meaningful action. But talk cannot be only talk, and conversation can’t happen until both sides are allowed a voice,” writes Anna Pontin.
Jun. 6, 2024
Substance use disproportionately impacts Queer communities. What does that mean for UBC students?
Words & photos by Iman Janmohamed
With high risk of substance (mis)use in Queer communities and BC’s ongoing toxic drug crisis, Queer youth are left to navigate substance use and recovery on their own.
Aug. 29, 2024
The Princess and the Pea (Man)
Words by Kyla Flynn Illustrations by Elita Menezes
Once upon a time, there lived a young girl. She was a princess in all ways but literal — brave, graceful, kind and ohso beautiful (the UBC Crushes Facebook admin’s phone now autofills her name).
Sep. 18, 2024
How Dean Murten is making a rugby dynasty at UBC
Words & photos by Lauren Kasowski
In 2014, the women’s rugby team was almost cut by UBC due to poor performance and a lack of support. Ten years later, here’s how the team and head coach Dean Murten turned things around.
Oct. 29, 2024
Photos by Isabella Falsetti
Words & photos by Julian Forst
2024/25
‘Failing at being feminine’: How media and gender norms influence femininity in our bodies
When you’re a woman, you can’t really separate yourself from your body.
Nov. 7, 2024
Former hockey captain Rylind MacKinnon returns to Vancouver with PWHL
On January 8, the Professional Women’s Hockey League made a stop in Vancouver as part of their Takeover Tour. As part of the Toronto Sceptres, UBC alum Rylind MacKinnon returned to her home province and university city for an unforgettable night of women’s hockey.
Jan. 21, 2025
‘I have questions’: UBC staffer speaks out after RCMP detained him while walking past Invictus Games wearing a keffiyeh
On February 14, a UBC employee was detained on campus on his way to work after he took videos outside the Invictus Games wearing a keffiyeh. His union said they haven’t ruled out litigation against the RCMP.
Mar. 5, 2025
A century of silence: Sumas First Nation and UBC researchers propose return of Sumas Lake after 100 years
Once a vast expanse of water teeming with life, all that exists today of Semá:th Xo:tsa are hazy black and white photos of a lake no more. But that may change soon.
Oct. 30, 2024
UBC to replace Workday with new system of record ‘Itdoesn’twork day’
Words &
Building community through shared struggle is an integral element of the human story, which is why UBC is doubling down and releasing Itdoesn’twork day — a downgrade of its already unpopular system of record, Workday Student.
Nov. 15, 2024
‘I’m not the first victim’: Removed VP AUA calls out toxic culture, plans to sue AMS for wrongful termination
Removed AMS VP AUA Drédyn Fontana is planning to sue for wrongful termination, alleging he was reviewed and removed out of retaliation for concerns he raised about President Christian ‘CK’ Kyle’s performance. Other former AMS executives allege a toxic culture inside the student society, which has led nearly half of all executives in the last three years to leave.
Feb. 14, 2025
Opinon: We ran for AMS President as joke candidates. Here’s why
Is it time to hop off? How cuts to TransLink could impact commuter students
A commuter student has three nightmares: missing the bus, falling down the stairs from the second level of the 351 and watching a driver shut the door on you — TransLink’s financial crisis may be worse than all three.
Mar. 20, 2025
Reflecting on the 2025 AMS elections, all three joke candidates offer an indictment of the current state of student politics — taking on issues of engagement, culture and toxicity they say are preventing the student union from doing the work of serving its constituents.
Mar. 18, 2025
Words by Lauren Kasowski Photos by Guntas Kaur
Words by Krishna Narayanan Photos courtesy Dr. Tara Martin
design by Sam Low Illustrations by Ayla Cilliers
Words by Spencer Izen
Photos by Stephen Kosar
Words by Viyan Handley & Aisha Chaudhry Illustrations by Ayla Cilliers
Words by Tony Kulenovic, Eve Sankar & Quyen Schroeder
Photos by Saumya Kamra Design by Mahin E Alam
Words by Olivia DeFehr Photos by Lauren Kasowski
Words by Amardeep Bains
Photos by Fiona Sjaus
‘A genuine rejection of the system’ Why communist ideology is rising at UBC
Communistideologies aregainingmomentum onCanadianuniversity campuses—whatdoesthat shift look like at UBC?
On a rainy evening, a handful of students gather around a table adorned with leaflets and worn-out copies of The Communist Manifesto. The conversation is animated — rent hikes, tuition increases and labour strikes dominate the discussion. The student group UBC Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) holds these public seminars weekly to talk about interpretations of the philosophies of Marxism and the politics of communism.
UBC RCP is not just an ideological club. They see themselves as an organizing force, bridging students and workers in collective action. In a political landscape where left-wing groups often clash over priorities, UBC RCP maintains a strict class-based analysis.
“When [people] see that the classical parties fail, the classical method fails, they tend to radicalize themselves towards us,” said Enzo, a UBC graduate student and member of UBC RCP. Enzo’s full name has been withheld due to safety concerns.
“The goal of communism, if you can put it succinctly, is a stateless, classless and moneyless society,” said third-year computer
science student Skyler Sauer. “But the ultimate difference [between definitions] is how you achieve those things.”
According to Enzo, with rising wages and the increased cost of living, class conflict is becoming more pronounced, pushing more young people to align themselves more with communism. Faced with declining economic mobility, government inaction and a political system that many perceive as serving only the wealthy, students are turning to leftist frameworks. And because of this, according to Enzo, the group has found itself gaining momentum.
A 2022 poll commissioned by the Fraser Institute found approximately 1 million young Canadians consider communism the ideal economic system. This surge in left-wing sentiment is not confined to Canada. Across the globe, some young people are turning to increasingly left-wing ideologies as they grapple with economic uncertainty and systemic inequities, according to a 2021 peer-reviewed article published in Politics. In the US, 11 per cent of youth
Words by Kylie Xi & Fiona Sjaus
Photo by Fiona Sjaus
express support for communism and 14 per cent in the UK, according to the Fraser Institute poll.
Economic precarity has played a key role in this shift — according to the Canadian Association of University Teachers, recent trends show public funding for post-secondary education in Canada has declined from 80 per cent in 1990 to under 50 per cent today, while tuition revenue has skyrocketed by nearly 83 per cent since 2008, despite only a 20 per cent increase in student enrolment.
Many students have turned to their own interpretations of Marxism, communism and beyond to make sense of their reality and organize for systemic change. These ideas, once dismissed as values of the postwar past, are being revived as tools for understanding and resisting a system some see as inherently exploitative.
Ifind the theory of [communism] incredibly convincing,” said Sauer, pulling out a notebook, a pen and a worn-out copy of Capital from his tote bag from across the table.
Communism in Canada traces back to 1919, with the formation of the One Big Union in western Canada and the month-long Winnipeg General Strike. Both of these helped unite Canada’s working class amid veteran unemployment and unsustainable post-war employee wages and working conditions — a socio-economic climate echoed in today’s post-pandemic world.
The revitalization of communist followings on university campuses in younger generations across the country, for Sauer, comes down to privilege and timing.
“People learning new things about the world [are] in a stage where they’re willing to question things,” he said, citing that engaging in political theory in university courses is the mechanism he believes prompts some students to question their ideological leanings.
“If you don’t have the privilege to be at a university or in another setting, it is going to be much more difficult for you to take the risk, to genuinely engage with the theory and to actually live out [its] conclusion,” he said.
Sauer is not a member of UBC RCP, though he still aligns with many of the principles communism stands for.
“I certainly consider myself sympathetic to the Marxist critique. It’s impossible not to be, in my opinion, but the specifics of what people call communism, I often don’t agree with,” said Sauer.
Enzo said many students identifying with the working class and balancing jobs with school out of necessity feeds into an ideological shift.
“Living conditions are … terrible for everyone. Your rent is more expensive, your
food is more expensive, everything is more expensive,” Enzo said. “People are radicalizing themselves for their own future, for the future of everybody … to make sure that our future as workers, as students, is possible and is not being destroyed by a minority that is only looking for profit.”
Enzo also said the campus Palestinian solidarity movement is where he met his first comrades at UBC. But his alignment with communism began long before joining the group, driven by ecological concerns and further catalyzed by the climate crisis and growing awareness of capitalist exploitation.
Baum said some undergraduates concerned about the inequalities of capitalism might gravitate to communist organizers who offer “a simple picture of capitalism.”
“Given the complexities of class structures and class divisions in contemporary capitalist societies and the aspirations of students … many are going to see themselves as either independent entrepreneurs, self-employed
examples, such as late 20th-century labour unions that, rather than dismantling capitalism, reinforced racial segregation to protect white workers’ interests. Enzo, however, highlighted UBC RCP is made up of a diverse body of undergraduates and graduates, drawing in Queer and BIPOC people and international students.
“If you don’t have the privilege to be at a university or in another setting, it is going to be much more difficult for you to take the risk, to genuinely engage with the theory and to actually live out [its] conclusion.”
“How is it possible that industry is polluting the atmosphere freely, killing biodiversity that is keeping us alive?” he said.
Enzo’s frustration with these systemic issues led him to communism after encountering Marxist theory in works like Wage Labour and Capital.
“[The] few minority wanting profit and in control of the means of production, control of the politics, control all things that they allow themselves to destroy everything because they don’t care,” he continued.
“Actions follow theory” is the principle of UBC RCP’s activity.
Enzo emphasized the primary goal of their party is to build numbers, grow the movement and create a base of people capable of conveying communist ideology.
Having garnered a diverse following on campus, UBC RCP encourages all workers to “build this party” and “work for a better world,” Enzo said.
— Skyler Sauer, Third-year student
or professionals, and they don’t really fit in that picture [of communism],” said Baum.
“When we think about communism and Marxism growing out of responses to class-based inequality, in particular, related to industrial capitalism, there often wasn’t that much attention to how that was intertwined with colonialism and imperialism,” he added, referring to some previous literature.
Baum specifically referenced Marxist scholar David Roediger, who “is much more inclined to say, ‘class inequality is real, but
“Marxism couldn’t address things like colonialism and racism without, to some extent, rethinking some of its basic concepts and understandings, like how it thought about alienation … ways in which it didn’t really think about the dispossession of Indigenous lands” Baum said. For Sauer, understanding how to disentangle Marxist theory from these historical implications is the question — and it has to do with separating hierarchy from political ideology.
“Communism or capitalism are tools that can be used to enforce hierarchy,” Sauer said. “You can placate democracy, or workers will vote, and it’ll all be great. But fundamentally, you’re still going to replicate hierarchy, so long as you regenerate the state in a different manner … when you focus on capitalism singularly you miss that.”
For Sauer, looking at communism as only the antithesis of capitalism tends to oversimplify the robustness of the theory, though he finds some students tend to engage with the ideology through this lens.
“When we think about communism and Marxism growing out of responses to class-based inequality, in particular, related to industrial capitalism, there often wasn’t that much attention to how that was intertwined with colonialism and imperialism.”
But UBC political science Associate Professor Dr. Bruce Baum warned some interpretations of communism might oversimplify the complexities of class struggle by overlooking how communism intertwines with racial and gender oppression, and the nuances of what it means to be part of the working class in a modern day capitalist society.
“I think we need a more subtle class analysis, and I’m not hearing that [from some students],” said Baum.
— Dr Bruce Baum, Political science professor
class inequality is not something that stands apart from the history of racism and sexism and the like.’”
Baum suggested this intersectionality also extends to universities’ role in fostering activism and intellectual engagement; adding, while universities should encourage political awareness and student activism, they must also balance this with ensuring fair conditions for all students.
He pointed to historical
historical events through a communist lens is a step the group takes to disseminate biases about left-wing politics.
“When people think of communism, they think of Red Scare, McCarthy-Era … things that are reductive, but not necessarily entirely false,” said Sauer.
“What we’re fighting for is the end of oppression, with workers taking power and controlling the economy to ensure that everyone has [basic needs],” Enzo said. “Our goal is to explain these ideas clearly to people, to show that we’re not ‘red, thirsty monsters’ who want to enslave everyone. That’s not what we’re about.”
UBC RCP frequently canvas campus with their own banner and literature. While UBC RCP is deeply rooted in campus activism, Enzo highlighted its dedication to a broader, systemic approach while partnering with other local communist branches. The group sends student contingencies to cross-city protests and events.
“We have an international point of view ... to fight on every front,” Enzo said.
Enzo added the current role of UBC RCP involves addressing rising tuition fees and UBC’s complicity in global crises, including what he and human rights experts called the genocide in Palestine.
Last summer, UBC RCP was involved in the Palestinian solidarity encampment that sat on the MacInnes Field for two months. And with values in line with mobilizing, protesting is a vital function of the student group. Last September, the group held a community meeting to plan student strikes in solidarity with Palestine as part of the Canadian Revolutionary Communist Party’s Towards a Student Strike for Palestine movement.
“It’s very important to not sequester ourselves to just UBC,” said Enzo. “And to make sure that we connect everything to a systemic problem.”
For students torn between single-issue activism and broader systemic critiques, Baum advised looking at past mistakes and recognizing how identity politics and class struggle intersect.
“Here’s [the] question: How [do we] foster education outside of the classroom, and enable space for different groups to organize and have educational events?”
Enzo said it is important for all members to understand communist ideas before applying them to practice. He said going out and talking to people on campus about current and
Sauer said he found the US, his home country, torn between two leaders in November 2024, who both vouched to maintain their own approach to maintaining hierarchy.
“If [a country] was communist, it wouldn’t have a state, and therefore it wouldn’t be a country, and therefore probably it would get conquered by the neighbouring countries very quickly,” he said.
Maybe then, communism works better in theory than in practice. Maybe in academic spaces, like universities, where theory is often most potent, is where communism thrives most, informing the way students critique systems, rather than the systems themselves.
Sauer summarized it from across the table: “Communism specifically is appealing because it is a genuine rejection of the system.” U
Opinion: Silent
This is an opinion article. It reflects the contributor’s views and does not reflect the views of The Ubyssey as a whole. Contribute to the conversation by visiting ubyssey.ca/pages/ submit-an-opinion
Omar Bseiso Contributor
— Editor’s note: The Ubyssey verified the statements the author attributes to hagwil hayetsk’s (Charles Menzies’s) social media accounts by examining screen captures shared with the opinion editor. The Ubyssey also obtained documentation to verify the statements regarding divestment attributed to the university.
This article contains descriptions and discussions of violence and sexual assault. Please read with care.
Omar Bseiso is a human rights defender and undergraduate student in the Faculty of Science. He has previously engaged in independent government advocacy and research with the BC Ministry of Health and was a student negotiator advocating for Palestinian human rights during meetings with UBC’s senior administration.
On February 6, 1986, the UBC Board of Governors unanimously approved a resolution expressing its “unqualified opposition to the racial policies of apartheid in South Africa.”
On July 19, 2024, almost 40 years later, the International Court of Justice confirmed that Israel is engaged in racial segregation and apartheid.
Judy Rogers, Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Miranda Lam, Natalie Chan, Amee Chande, Irene Lanzinger, Dallas Leung, Anthonia Ogundele, Ali Pejman, Leonard Schein, Byron Thom, Eshana Bhangu, Isabella Bravo, Kamil Kanji, Sandy Hilton, Anna Kindler, hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies), Philipp Reichert, Matthew Tan, I ask you: Do you disagree with the previous Board’s stand against apartheid?
If not, then why haven’t you done anything?
As of time of writing, and according to an assessment published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet, Israel has killed at least 64,260 Palestinians in Gaza. United Nations (UN) agencies and independent international courts conclude that Israel has systematically and deliberately starved civilians, bombed hospitals, turned refugee camps into hundred-meter craters and destroyed every university in Gaza. Israeli forces are documented having attacked ambulances, raped prisoners, bombed fertility clinics, murdered a number of journalists and healthcare workers unprecedented in modern history, shot children in the head and burned families on IVs alive.
All as corroborated by photo, video and x-ray evidence.
Scholarly estimates now place the Gaza death toll at more than 186,000 — 8 per cent of the total population in the Gaza Strip — when projecting deaths from starvation and disease. Satellite imagery of Gaza reveals an enclave flattened and reduced to rubble, as Israel has
used its AI programs ‘Lavendar’ and ‘Where’s Daddy?’ to generate thousands of Palestinian targets for assassination. My cousin’s leg was mutilated by an Israeli bomb, then amputated using dish soap and a kitchen knife without anesthetic.
And UBC is silent.
Prompted to justify the Palestine exception at UBC, administrators have claimed that “institutional neutrality” mandates that public statements pertain only to the “teaching, learning, and research mission of the university.” Yet, on February 24, 2022, UBC released a public statement condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Does this statement pertain to the “teaching, learning, and research mission” of the university?
In its advisory opinion of July 19, the International Court of Justice underscored the obligation of all parties to “abstain ... from any recognition of [Israel]’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Nonetheless, our university maintains its academic ties with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), an institution operating in Occupied East Jerusalem in violation of international law.
In correspondence, UBC has repeatedly cited ‘academic freedom’ as its rationale for continuing to recognize HU’s illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. But academic freedom has not stopped UBC from cutting institutional ties in the past.
On April 20, 2022, the UBC Vancouver Senate approved a motion to suspend six academic agreements with Russian government entities nearly unanimously, with only one abstention. Taking UBC’s argument at face value, are we to conclude that the suspension of academic agreements with Israeli government entities is somehow more of an infringement on academic freedom than the suspension of academic agreements with Russian government entities? Why is one acceptable and the other not?
In 2024, UBC Investment Management (UBCIM)’s disclosed shares in military equipment companies transferring arms to the Israeli government totalled $22,566,504 CAD of the university’s endowment fund:
• $3,533,228 in Airbus SE;
• $203,479 in Elbit Systems
• $4,435,677 in General Electric Co;
• $21,632 in BAE Systems;
• $925,970 in Lockheed Martin;
• $18,226 in L3Harris Technologies;
• $44,712 in Boeing Co;
• $6,899 in Thales SA;
• $252,557 in Rheinmetall AG;
• $7,920 in Textron;
• $208,893 in General Dynamics Corp;
• $3,499,965 in Safran SA;
• $8,460,884 in Rolls-Royce Holdings;
• $72,164 in Caterpillar Inc;
• $817,350 in Northrop Grumman; and
• $56,948 in RTX Corp; According to the UN, nine of these companies risk complicity in “serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws … possibly including genocide.” The UN’s Special Procedures, a body of independent human rights experts of the UN, has further clarified the responsibilities of institutional investors holding shares in these companies, warning of “repercussions for complicity in potential atrocity crimes.”
In 2024, UBCIM invested $7,732,580 CAD of the endowment in twelve companies contributing to illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
• $6,348,030 in Booking Holdings;
• $28,843 in Airbnb;
• $642,451 in Expedia Group;
• $1,075 in eDreams Odigeo SA.
• $328,701 in Motorola Solutions;
• $1,960 in Mizrahi Tefahot Bank;
• $227,716 in Israel Discount Bank;
• $93,711 in Bank Hapoalim BM;
• $29,065 in First International Bank of Israel;
• $5,195 in Bank Leumi-Le Israel
vance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada and the world” with its deafening silence.
I have asked whether the current composition of UBC’s Board does not see Israel’s actions as worthy of condemnation. Turning to social media statements made by UBC Governor and Senator hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies), the suspicion that some Governors see Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians as just is largely confirmed.
Among the things he has said include:
• “It’s not scholasticide when a university is a center of hate and coordinates violence - it’s self defence.”
• “If a university is linked to political terror it is a fair target in a war.”
• “When military bases are located in a university, bombing it is not an attack on academic freedom.”
BM;
• $23,192 in Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing; and
• $2,640 in Alstom SA; According to the UN, all of these companies contribute to the provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of illegal settlements, and raise “particular human rights concerns.”
In 1986, then-UBC President David Strangway said the Board had directed its finance committee to review the federal government’s report on Canadian companies operating in South Africa and will prepare “a list of companies in which the UBC’s operating, endowment and staff pension funds would not invest.” According to Board meeting minutes from 1990, Strangway confirmed this list of companies is reviewed at regular intervals, and that the university “instruct[s] [its] investment people to be sure that they do not invest in those companies.”
Today, faced with a worldwide movement calling on universities to divest from firms fuelling occupation, apartheid and genocide, UBC asserts, in a July 2024 letter to divestment advocates, that it is “not legally possible for the UBC Board of Governors to direct divestment from any companies for which there are financial consequences.”
Meanwhile, a UN Special Committee has found Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip “consistent with the characteristics of genocide,” and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory concludes that Israel has committed “genocidal acts … calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza as a group, in whole or in part.”
Our university presents itself as having learned from its past failings. After 500 days of silence, one cannot help but wonder whether this is merely a façade, embroidered with blood and hoisted by vapid declarations about human rights. Even for the most generous bureaucrat, it remains difficult to reconcile UBC’s stated purpose — “to foster global citizenship and ad-
• “When combatants melt in and out of everyday life using the people as their battlefield they render unintelligible the word civilian.” He is correct in a sense. The word civilian is unintelligible — unintelligible to those who see Palestinians as subhuman, Palestinian universities as terror depots and Palestinian children as terrorists — worthy not of love, but of bombs. Bombs that fall all the while. While administrators cling to fiduciary duty and academic freedom as a blood-soaked veil for complicity, children cling to their parents’ graves. While Governors trip over themselves to defend the bombing of universities, children trip barefoot in the sun, carrying their wounded siblings. And while UBC remains muted, genocide remains abound.
On December 5, 2024, Amnesty International released a 296-page report titled ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, in which it concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
On December 19, 2024, Human Rights Watch released a 191-page report titled Extermination and Acts of Genocide’ in which it concluded that Israel has committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, including the deliberate deprivation of water.
On December 19, 2024, Doctors without Borders released a 34-page report titled Gaza: Life in a Death Trap, in which it stated “our firsthand observations of the medical and humanitarian catastrophe inflicted on Gaza are consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.”
And all I can hear is silence.
Judy Rogers, Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Miranda Lam, Natalie Chan, Amee Chande, Irene Lanzinger, Dallas Leung, Anthonia Ogundele, Ali Pejman, Leonard Schein, Byron Thom, Eshana Bhangu, Isabella Bravo, Kamil Kanji, Sandy Hilton, Anna Kindler, hagwil hayetsk (Charles Menzies), Philipp Reichert, Matthew Tan: When will you wake up? U
A protester holds a sign during a protest at UBC in summer 2024.
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
The Ubyssey’s sports staff year-end report
From shocking upsets to groundbreaking records, UBC’s varsity teams had it all this season. To celebrate the last print issue of the 2024/25 year, your favourite sports + rec reporters assembled to recap UBC’s varsity performances.
Here are some of their answers; full responses are online at ubyssey. ca/sports
WHAT WAS THE BEST TEAM OF THE YEAR?
Annaliese Gumboc (AG): Have to go with women’s soccer. They were just unstoppable this year.
Caleb Peterson (CP): Not sure if this is cheating or not, but I am going to nominate the entire T-Birds swim team — both the men’s and women’s sides — as both squads took home a national championship in a UBC sweep. These titles just added to UBC’s swimming dominance, as they are the 2 most decorated Thunderbird varsity teams, with the women having 25 national titles and the men having 21.
Lauren Kasowski (LK): I think women’s rugby wins this handsdown. They won their first ever national championship, and after a decade of hard work, it was so nice to see it pay off.
Maia Cesario (MC): Women’s soccer. They won back-to-back national titles, earning the ninth national championship in program history. Not only this, but they literally had a perfect season going undefeated. They dominated all year and made history with their
20–0 record in the regular season. Sofia Campanholo (SC): This is probably very biased of me, but I need to say the men’s soccer team. They claimed not only the CW championship for the third year in a row, but were also U Sports champions after 11 years. I am extremely excited for their next season.
FUCK, MARRY, KILL: THIS YEAR’S HOMECOMING, WINTER CLASSIC, COURTSIDE
AG: I’m biased because I love football and I covered Homecoming, but marry Homecoming. Fuck Winter Classic, kill Courtside (based on vibes).
CP: I’m gonna have to marry Homecoming — as a football fan, the vibes are unmatched and it’s a perfect way to start the year. Then I’ll fuck Winter Classic, and kill Courtside. Sorry, hockey’s just more fun. I don’t make the rules.
LK: Fuck Homecoming, marry Winter Classic, unfortunately kill Courtside (it was a good game but I wasn’t with my friends </3).
MC: I love basketball so I will be the only one to not kill Courtside and say marry Courtside. Fuck Homecoming because it is always a good time and kill Winter Classic (too cold).
SC: It seems like a consensus on killing Courtside (sorry). I am leaning on fuck Homecoming and marrying Winter Classic (gives me a cozy vibe even though it is the literal opposite, do not ask me why).
WHAT’S ONE PREDICTION YOU HAVE FOR THE 2025/26 SEASON?
AG: Women’s basketball will return to the Final 8 tournament after losing in the bronze medal match this year. This would be their first time making back-to-back appearances since 2008.
CP: I think men’s volleyball will take another step forward next year. After winning 13 of their last 15 games, they barely fell in the Canada West Final Four, losing both of their games in deciding fifth sets. Next year, they’ll be looking to correct those mistakes, pushing for a Canada West title and perhaps
even more. Can’t wait to see the documentary.
LK: Women’s rugby will become back-to-back national champions at home. Quote me on it because I was right last year too.
MC: Women’s soccer will return to nationals and get the three-peat. No one has ever earned three consecutive titles but I think with their depth and talent they could achieve this.
SC: These sunny days are making me more optimistic, so I am betting on the Thunderbirds’ football team to win the CW title. You may think I am being too confident, but if I am correct, I WILL brag about it. U
Evan Dunfee sets race walking world record
On March 22, Olympian and UBC alum Evan Dunfee broke the world record in the 35 km race walk competing in Dudince, Slovakia.
“Getting a world record in any of the distances has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager,” said Dunfee in an interview with The Ubyssey. “So to finally get one, it’s incredible. It’s such a great feeling.”
Dunfee has been on a record setting tear — this is his third in 2025. He shattered his own Canadian 10,000 metre race walk record and the North American 20 km race walk record in January. Those races helped him work up to the 35 km race, where Dunfee held a 4 minute per km pace to place first with a time of 2:21:40 and set a new world record by 7 seconds.
“As the days have gone on, it sets in the magnitude of what I achieved and how special and how
cool it is for the whole team of support around me,” said Dunfee.
Feeling great after the previous races, Dunfee decided to enter the 35 km at the Dudinska 50 competition. Upon learning he would be going up against two Olympic defending champions, he and his coach decided to focus on keeping up with his opponents and aiming for the best time he could get, rather than the world record. However, on the morning of the race, Dunfee learned the two champions were
VARSITY Q&A //
5-on-5: April assortments
Lauren Kasowski Sports + Rec Editor
Spring has sprung, the sun is back out and the end of the semester is upon us. For our last T-Birds 5-on-5 of the 2024/25 season, we asked five questions to five varsity athletes. Here are some of their answers; check out ubyssey.ca/sports for them all.
• Kyle Bishop (KB): men’s field hockey
• Grace Bell (GB): women’s golf
• Devon Meadow (DM): men’s track
• Ella Sunde (ES): women’s soccer
• Russell Young (RY): baseball
IS A HOT DOG A SANDWICH?
KB: Absolutely not! The hot dog has reached its own iconic category in the world of bread and meat.
GB: My personal hot take is that hot dogs are more of a taco than anything because there is bread covering three sides of it, just like a taco.
DM: Definitely.
ES: Yes. I have never really thought about it, but it’s something between two slices of bread so I would call it a sandwich!
RY: I think by definition it is, but I think we can all agree that it doesn’t pass the eye test to be called one.
WOULD YOU RATHER ALWAYS HAVE SAND STUCK BETWEEN YOUR TOES OR ALWAYS WALK AROUND IN SQUEAKY SHOES?
no longer racing and he decided to just commit to trying for the world record.
Dunfee had an extremely commanding start showing his skill in this race and even went on to lap his 51 competitors. The real struggle began in the last few kilometres of the race as Dunfee started to feel the record slip out of his grasp. But he held onto it and crossed the finish line, feeling relieved to have done it.
“I had to buy another gear in those final two, three kilometres, and reset, refocus and dig really, really deep to get that time down,” said Dunfee. “[I’m] really proud of myself. I was able to turn things around and get back on a solid pace.”
This world record is another amazing goal Dunfee has reached in his athletic career, alongside achievements like winning the bronze medal in the 50 km race walk at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. In last year’s 20 km Olympic race, he placed fifth.
Dunfee is showing no signs of slowing down, instead focusing on the next goal of continuing to “take on the world” at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from September 13–21.
“After the disappointment last year at the Paris Olympics, everything’s on track and the big goal still remains — standing on top of the podium in September.” U
KB: Squeaky shoes are an unfortunate must here. Abrasive sand would be too much to handle. Besides, most of us who live in Vancouver are already attuned to squeaky Blundstones in the rain.
GB: I rather walk around with squeaky shoes because nothing is worse than sand in between your toes.
DM: Walk around with squeaky shoes.
ES: Sand stuck between my toes. Rather something just be annoying for me instead of for everyone!!
RY: I’d rather have squeaky shoes. I think that way, I can still get around places without being filled with irritability. Might be annoying to the people around me, though.
BEST WAY TO SPEND A SUNNY DAY IN VANCOUVER?
KB: I’m either trail running or hiking in the North Shore mountains. There’s no better way to enjoy this city than to exercise while being in nature and experiencing the beautiful West Coast!
GB: Best way to spend a sunny day is on the beach with friends and music and either Spikeball or throwing around a football.
DM: Spikeball and a cold beverage at Spanish Banks.
ES: Down at the beach, or better yet, out on the water (paddle boarding, kayaking, boating). Deep Cove is one of my favourite places (although I am a bit biased because it is also where I grew up).
RY: Going down to the beach at sunset and throwing a ball around! U
Thunder at Homecoming.
SAUMYA KAMRA / THE UBYSSEY
FASTER THAN FAST, QUICKER THAN QUICK //
Dunfee finished the 35 km race with a time of 2:21:40.
COURTESY MILAN ĎUROCH
Maia Cesario Senior Staff Reporter
How UBC scientists are working to better understand bird flu
Chloe White Contributor
As bird flu swoops across media outlets, UBC researchers are working to better understand and monitor the disease.
Avian flu or bird flu refers to a disease caused by a virus that primarily infects birds but has also been detected in humans and other mammals. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, there has only been one recorded human case of infection with the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) strain of bird flu in Canada as of November 2024, and the risk to the general public remains low. However, research committed to understanding how this virus operates can help us be better prepared for the future.
“It becomes more and more important … that we continue advancing our tools and the knowledge around how this virus is mutating so that we can respond effectively when we need to,” said Dr. Shannon Russell, UBC clinical assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and senior scientist at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) Public Health Laboratory.
According to Russell, one concern with bird flu isn’t necessarily its current risk to the population, but its potential for undergoing genetic exchanges called “reassortments.” Most recorded human infections of bird flu have been mild. However, if someone is infected with bird flu and a seasonal flu at the same time, there’s a risk they can exchange genes to make a new, potentially more dangerous virus.
“The worry with poultry farm workers is that somebody who has seasonal influenza comes in contact with an avian influenza strain, and they’re like the perfect mixing vessel for this ultimate new flu virus,” she said.
Russell explained that while seasonal flu viruses are very adapted to humans, avian influenza viruses are not. This means that there’s potential for a certain combination of genes to be ex-
‘Hiding in plain sight’: UBC researchers discover a new type of brain cell that reshapes our understanding of memory
Mahin E Alam Managing Editor
Think about the objects you interact with in your day-to-day life, like your water bottle or your phone. These objects shape how we connect with each other and our environment, each interaction etched into our memory.
But how do we remember to interact with these objects? How does our brain form these memories? Dr. Mark Cembrowski and neuroscience PhD student Adrienne Kinman may have uncovered a crucial part of the puzzle.
changed and create a new virus that is adapted for human-human transmission, but our bodies have no baseline immunity for.
“So I think that’s really the biggest concern, [that] we don’t really know what to expect, because of the way that the genome can reassort so easily,” said Russell.
Russell conducts genomic surveillance research out of the BCCDC in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The goal of their research — aptly named the “BIRD WATCH” project — is to monitor how the avian flu virus is mutating in the wild bird population, as well as poultry and mammals. Other projects in the UBC Faculty of Medicine include added efforts dedicated to surveillance, antibody testing and livestock monitoring.
This collaborative approach to research focuses on how bird flu impacts and moves through our community as a whole, including humans, animals and the greater environment. According to the BCCDC, the ultimate goal is to “create a cloud-based data platform for sharing genomic information from H5N1 viruses found in birds and poultry between public health and animal health partners.”
Currently, the federal government is taking measures to ensure that Canada is adequately preparing a response to the bird flu, including purchasing 500,000 doses of an avian influenza vaccine to protect the most vulnerable, and investing in collaborative research aimed at preventing and preparing for avian flu outbreaks.
While researchers commit to better understanding bird flu, Russell emphasized that currently the risk for Canadians remains low. She explained that most cases of bird flu manifest as mild symptoms, such as conjunctivitis, with only a few cases becoming more serious.
“I think it can be sensationalized,” she said. “The challenge is trying to understand when … that risk level increases based on the possibility of human to human transmission. But, regardless of that, the risk is low.” U
In a study published in Nature Communications on February 12, the pair, along with other researchers in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, discovered a new type of brain cell called ovoid cells which play a key role in our ability to recognize and remember objects.
“Recognition memory is a cornerstone of our day-to-day life. It’s central for survival,” said Cembrowski, the study’s principal investigator and associate professor of cellular and physiological sciences at the UBC Faculty of Medicine in an interview with The Ubyssey
The research team looked at mouse brain cells from the subiculum — a region of the brain next to the hippocampus. After running sequencing experiments over several months, they discovered a group of neurons that “stuck out like a sore thumb,” with unique gene expression and a distinctive ovoid or circular cell-body shape.
Historically, it was widely believed that the hippocampus — the part of the brain that is
responsible for our memory and learning — contained only a single type of cell called ‘pyramidal cells’ that could fulfill a variety of functions.
“It was just thought that [pyramidal] cells were really flexible and they could do all of these different things,” said Kinman, the study’s first author. “[Our research] is counteracting that and saying, ‘Actually, maybe there is something underlying them that [makes] them more discrete.’”
The study discovered that ovoid cells differed from pyramidal cells in their gene expression, shape, connectivity and very specific function.
“What was really quite cool about this study is that once we were able to identify that these ovoid cells existed, and they’ve been sort of hiding in plain sight … basically every feature, every property of these cells, varies from textbook pyramidal cells of the hippocampus, and thus it’s basically like a new layer of cells,” said Cembrowski.
“And [this] new layer of cells govern learning and memory in a really exquisite way.”
The researchers hope this discovery will pave the way for new treatment options for epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
“We wanted to understand these cells in these clinical contexts,” said Cembrowski. ”Alzheimer’s and epilepsy seem to be two leading clinical settings where, by understanding these cells, we may, in the long term, derive new therapeutic targets and treatments.”
“We found that [ovoid] cells were involved in encoding novelty,” said Kinman, referring to the
brain’s process of encoding new information into memory.
“False novelty, for example, is something that is seen in … animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, and also in clinical populations,” said Kinman. “And so in theory, in the future we could look at ways of targeting these cells to maybe alleviate these things.”
Similarly, in the case of epilepsy, the researchers believe these cells could help with therapeutic treatment in the short term.
“So [in] some of our experiments in the mouse brain, we saw that these cells are what we would call hyper-excitable, or a little bit of input would cause these cells to fire a lot,” said Cembrowski.
Increased hyper-excitability may lead to runaway excitations, where brain network activity is uncontrolled and persists without external input or inhibition, and can cause seizures.
“By understanding these cells and the molecules that are within these cells, that can potentially give us targets by which we can take this over hyper-excitability and begin to reduce it and prevent these seizures from occurring,” said Cembrowski.
The researchers are hopeful that this discovery will open new research opportunities into the neural components of memory and object recognition memory.
“Learning and memory, these things really make us who we are,” said Cembrowski.
“To my mind, understanding these neural components of memory, this is like the Holy Grail of neuroscience.” U
The study discovered that ovoid cells differed from pyramidal cells in their gene expression, shape, connectivity and very specific function.
The goal of their research is to monitor how the avian flu virus is mutating in the wild bird population, as well as poultry and mammals.
AYLA CILLIERS / THE UBYSSEY
