May 24, 2017

MAY 24, 2017 | VoLuME XCix | IssuE I AIKENLESS since 1918

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NEWS

CULTURE

OPINION

SCIENCE

SPORTS

Student Louis Gonick still missing

My undergrad degree was a glorified book club

Ask Natalie: Is my “number” too high?

UBC researchers use bacteria to filter water

UBC baseball in talks with UTokyo for friendly game

THE UBYSSEY

Is the vote wasted wasted on youth? we dove into why students continue to struggle to turn out at the polls and how they might shape the final results.

PAGE 2

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

2

OUR CAMPUS

Elder Larry Grant finds a voice for Indigenous languages saturday june 3 UBC FARMER’S MARKET 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. @ UBC FARM The first of 2017, these UBC Farmer’s Markets will be held every Saturday!

FREE ENTRY

wednesday june 14 rupi kaur door 7:00 p.m. @ the vogue theatre Renowned feminist author, poet and multi-media artist is coming to Vancouver on her world tour! tickets at $30 “It’s putting Indigenous concerns and recognition on an equitable, even footing on campus.”

Helen Zhou Staff Writer

may 25 - may 28 ART! VANCOUVER 2017 @ CANADA PLACE An art event featuring reputable galleries and artists from across Canada and around the world. $15 GENERAL ADMISSION, $40 MULTI-DAY PASS

ON THE COVER PHOTO BY Patrick Gillin

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Email your event listings to printeditor@ubyssey.ca

U The Ubyssey

editorial Coordinating Editor Photo Editor Samantha McCabe coordinating@ubyssey.ca Partick Gillin photos@ubyssey.ca Design Editor Features Editor Natalie Morris printeditor@ubyssey.ca Moira Wyton features@ubyssey.ca News Editors Samantha McCabe & Alex Nguyen news@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Samuel Du Bois culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Lucy Fox sports@ubyssey.ca Video Producer Kate Colenbrander video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Emma Hicks opinions@ubyssey.ca Science Editor Nivi Thatra science@ubyssey.ca

maY 24, 2017 | Volume XCIX| Issue XXVI

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Matt Langmuir, Bill Situ, Gabey Lucas, Julia Burnham, Sophie Sutcliffe, Rachel Ong, Jeremy Johnson-Silvers, Diana Oproescu, Stephanie Wu, Emmanuel Villamejor, Patrick Gillin, Mischa Milne, Sebastian Mendo, Isabelle Commerford, Katharina Friege, Hana Golightly, Lauren Kearns, Oliver Zhang, Jerry Yin, Shelby Rogers, Tristan Wheeler, Arielle Supino, Mona Adibmoradi, Laura Palombi, Jonas Ordman, Samantha Searle, Helen Zhou, Marcus Yun, Arjun Singla, Barbara Neto-Bradley, James Vogl, Sarah Chay, Neha Sree Tadepalli

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Elder Larry Grant has had the tendency to just fall into the jobs he has had throughout his life. It’s been “serendipitous,” according to him.

From being a longshoreman on the ports at Strathcona to a heavy duty mechanic and then an adjunct professor of hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ at UBC and Elder-in-Residence at the First Nations House of Learning, Grant has only been unemployed for five days since 1955.

In his most recent role as adjunct professor and Elder-inResidence at UBC, Grant has worked to build and strengthen the Musqueam presence on campus and to talk to students about Musqueam culture.

“It took me a while to realize that the role of the Elder-inResidence is multi-faceted.

It’s there as an ambassador for Musqueam, it’s there as a grandparent figure for students because they call the House of Learning ‘home away from home’ and it’s a safe space,” he said.

The role has grown beyond being just a figurehead position throughout Grant’s tenure.

“It’s more than just saying a prayer, saying a welcome and going home,” he said.

Through his position, Grant has been involved with the First Nations education standing committee, the UBC president’s advisory committee on Aboriginal issues and the Musqueam UBC development committee. He also provides Musqueam welcomes for events and occasional guest lectures.

Of all the different aspects of the role, Elder Grant said that his favourite part is interacting with students. Often this involves helping Indigenous students

navigate the challenges of Canada’s current legislation as well as the history of the residential schools, which still affects the community today.

“I know the schools have been closed now for about 20 years, but there are great-grandparent, grandparent, parent generations that have been in residential schools,” he said.

“They were denied identity, self-worth, language, culture, ceremony, connection to family and community. That’s embedded after three or four generations, embedded in the DNA of people and they have to work through that.”

He sees the impact of the intergenerational trauma when teaching in the First Nations and Endangered Languages (FNEL) program as students battle old demons of being forbidden to speak their mother tongues — or even the feeling of being in a classroom.

“In a small way, through the language program we’re able to help students through the trauma that has been created by those prohibitive legislations,” he said.

Grant himself did not attend residential school, but this was due to the fact that he is half Chinese and half Musqueam.

Under the law at the time, Grant was considered Chinese.

He recalled feeling conflicted about his dual identity as a child because he had lived mostly with his mother and grandparents, who were Musqueam and spoke hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ . Still, his documentation said that he was Chinese and the people around him considered him Chinese.

“But I know nothing of Chinese culture [or] Chinese identity,” he said.

At home was where he felt most comfortable with his dual identity.

martin dee/ubc

“My grandfather’s generation accepted us as Musqueam children, whether or not we were a hundred percent Musqueam,” said Grant.

Growing up, he was not encouraged to learn hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓, but he remarked on the importance of the language to him now.

“It’s been my focus for 20 years now and at the beginning my mindset was ‘what are we doing at this juncture in life, trying to revive a language that no one uses?’” he said.

“And then I learned about the difference and the value of language in cultural aspects — the cultural relevance that’s embedded in language.”

It is because of this cultural relevance that he is passionate about the revitalization of the hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓ language, especially by giving the language both cultural and historical context.

The UBC FNEL program also works with archivists and First Nations languages specialists to create curriculum for teaching the language.

The restoration of hən̓q̓ əmin̓əm̓ and the increasing awareness of Musqueam have the potential to be immensely empowering to the Indigenous community on campus, according to Grant.

Moving forward, he hopes that the community can gain the equal respect of the university.

“It’s not putting Indigenous concerns in a special space — it’s putting Indigenous concerns and recognition on an equitable, even footing on campus,” he said.

On Indigenous rights, he said, “people feel like we’re a special niche within Canada — we are, but it’s not a pedestal thing.”

“We are the first people of this land [and] that needs to be accepted in a way that brings us into an equal footing so that we have an equal voice.” U

NEWS

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Editors samantha mccabe + ALEX NGUYEN

SAFETY //

3

missing person //

UBC’s new sexual assault policy comes into effect One month after Louis

Gonick’s disappearance, no real progress

file maia boakye

The new office will be operational by the fall of 2017.

Samantha McCabe News Editor

One day ahead of the provincial deadline mandated by Bill 23, UBC officially put its new sexual assault policy (Policy 131) into effect on May 18. The bill, passed almost exactly one year ago, required all universities in BC to have a stand-alone sexual assault policy in place by May 19, 2017.

The new Sexual Assault and Other Sexual Misconduct policy addresses many of the gaps left when instances of sexual assault were addressed by other, more broad harassment and misconduct policies.

Policy 131 not only provides directive as to the way that the university will deal with instances of sexual assault, but also mandates the creation of an entire Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office that will hear disclosures and reports of sexual assault and then investigate those reports.

According to a new UBC website, “these offices will provide a broad range of individualized support, from coordinating accommodations and responding to immediate needs, making referrals to counselling services to providing clarity on options and processes for formalizing complaints into reports for investigation.”

While the policy officially came into effect Thursday, some of the big-ticket items like the creation of the physical office will be realized in the coming months. UBC is also currently in the process of hiring a director of investigations and a director for the office.

The committee that worked on the policy is also currently working on a variety of support materials to expand upon and clarify specific sections of the policy, such as the definition of UBC’s jurisdiction over cases, noted Associate VP Equity and Inclusion Sara-Jane Finlay.

“Until the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office is fully operational at the Vancouver Campus later this year, the duties of this office are being carried out by Jennifer Hollinshead and the team of Registered Clinical Counsellors at Peak Resilience,” notes the website. “Jennifer is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who has worked as a sexual assault counsellor at UBC, and has experience working with SASC and University RCMP.” While UBC will be working on the office — including the hiring processes — throughout the summer, the policy still stands in its entirety as of today. The temporary measures will function in the same way, with the intention being that students will now face the same process as they will when the policy is entirely realized.

According to the online “action plan,” it is expected that the office will be operational and the key positions will be filled by the fall of 2017. U

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JONATHAN DARLINGTON Conductor NANCY HERMISTON Director

Gonick’s family has started a GoFundMe to hire a private investigator.

Alex Nguyen News Editor

Since his disappearance on April 16, UBC student Louis Gonick has been missing for over a month. Many parties are now involved in the search for him, but none seem to have made a significant breakthrough in this investigation.

The last major public update was presented at the UBC RCMP’s press conference on April 27.

According to the RCMP on the case, there is no update regarding the investigation since this conference took place.

During that press conference, Gonick’s last known location was clarified. More specifically, he was last seen at the Stanley Park causeway after getting off a taxi at 7:32 pm on April 16.

A photo of him captured by the taxi cab surveillance camera was also included in the press conference’s handout.

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As a result, the RCMP has conducted an “extensive land and marine search” at this location and the surrounding area within Stanley Park. The Coast Guard, West Coast Marine Services, the Vancouver Police Marine Unit and Vancouver Port Authority were also involved.

At the same time, a search party for Gonick was carried out by his friends and fellow members of the UBC Ecuadorian Students Association. They had also previously held a rally and

reddit

created a GoFundMe campaign to support Gonick’s family.

However, no confirmation about Gonick’s status has been made despite these efforts.

At the press conference, RCMP noted that they had not yet ruled out any reason for disappearance. They could not comment on whether they had since ruled out anything.

In response, Gonick’s family is now seeking help from a private investigator. A new GoFundMe campaign has also been set up to help cover the costs.

According to Nathalie Lozano Neira, the campaign’s creator, the costs include the “private investigator’s fees, legal fees” and living expenses of Gonick’s mother Lupe Carrera, who has travelled from Ecuador to Vancouver in order to find her son.

She was also present at the press conference to make a plea for his return and for the public’s support in the search for him.

“Life has no meaning without you in it, and we are all counting the seconds to see your smile again,” said Carrera.

Currently the campaign has raised over $2,600 toward its $20,000 goal since its creation on May 15, but it is unclear if any progress has been made by the private investigator. Even so, Gonick’s family and friends cannot and will not give up on the search for him.

“We can all empathize with the pain that Lupe [Carrera], Louis’s friends and his loved ones are feeling,” wrote Neira in the campaign. “Louis is a member of this community and it is our responsibility to come together to help find him.” U Anyone with further information is asked to contact the UBC RCMP at 604-224-1322 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS ( file number 2017-1131).

4 | news | WEDNESDAY MAY 24, 2017 housing //

administration //

UBC will have 70 nano-units by summer 2019 Michael Pratt Contributor

In the summer of 2019, 70 nanounits will be coming to UBC. They are part of the 651 housing units that will become available following the Gage South tower’s completion.

Nano-units are studios that fit a bathroom, a kitchen and a study and sleeping space — all into 140 square feet. The study and sleeping space are built into one, using a transformable bed with a table underneath.

For Andrew Parr, managing director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS), these nano-units are considered a “trial” for a new growth model in campus housing. He seems optimistic about future students’ living experiences with the units.

“We’re actually quite confident they will be well received,” said Parr.

“They’re small but well-designed units. There’s a lot of extra amenities within the building that students will have access to, and it’s very close to the heart of campus.”

He also noted that there has been extensive consultation, both formally and anecdotally, about the nano-unit model — to mixed results.

Formally, an online survey

by SHHS received 13,000 views and “a lot of feedback, comments [and] concerns,” according to Parr.

In particular, 82 per cent of the 1,806 respondents said they would be willing to live in a unit at the current price tag of $650 to $700 in 2019.

A workshop on the nano-unit’s design was also held at the lead architect’s office, which included the SHHS’s staff, the design team and approximately 15 students.

Parr believes that it was a “very helpful and student-inclusive process” because “a lot of the [students’ recommendations] were able to be implemented.”

In 2016, there was also a mockup of the nano-unit on display in the Nest for six weeks, which was viewed by 30,000 people, according to Parr’s estimate.

“Just hearing anecdotal comments, just hearing students talk to their friends was quite interesting,” Parr said. “It was pretty positive, and the results ended up being pretty positive as well.”

This sentiment was reflected in some of The Ubyssey’s street interviews on the topic. Others noted the potential smell problem from cooking in a contained space as well as the lack of storage.

One student said that they would “rather commute from somewhere cheaper.”

Moving forward, Parr is excited about the nano-units’ opening and their role in addressing the demand

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UBC hires new provost and VP Academic Alex Nguyen News Editor

file jack hauen

The nano-units are 140 square feet.

for campus housing. He also linked their location in South Gage to a wider principle that UBC is “trying to adopt”: building at the centre of campus.

“That’s one of the things UBC wants to do as part of the campus plan is to create more mixed-use developments, where there are living environments, amenities

for the entire campus community, classrooms, services and academic spaces all within the heart of campus,” he said.

“It really does add a lot of vibrancy and heighten the experience for all students to have that kind of activity in the heart of campus.” U

sustainability //

UBC maintains track record as one of Canada’s Greenest Employers buildings rather than building new ones.

“I take a sustainable building [as] a building that you don’t have to build,” said Madden. “The whole student union building is a good example. We’re currently retrofitting that with higher standards of energy efficiency, water efficiency, better insulation and a programme which addresses the core needs of students and their lifestyle.” U

Andrew Szeri, a professor at the University of California Berkeley campus, is the new Provost and Vice-President Academic for UBC Vancouver.

He replaces Dr. Angela Redish, who has served as Provost and VicePresident Academic pro tem since July 2015. According to a broadcast email sent out by UBC May 12, his term begins on July 1 but is also “subjected to Canadian immigration authorities.”

A global search began in early January of this year for the person that would fill the role, assisted by a search committee headed by UBC President Santa Ono. This position manages UBC’s “academic strategy, budgetary and planning processes.” The role also includes overseeing “the university’s academic programs and support functions — research, faculty affairs, enrolment, sustainability and information technology.”

From 2007 to 2014, Szeri was the dean of the Graduate Division, overseeing the “academic quality assurance and financial responsibilities [for] nearly 11,000 students.” From 2014 to 2016, he managed “academic program review of all departments and schools” as the vice provost for strategic academic and facilities planning. U Read more online.

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This is the sixth time that UBC has received this award.

Alice Sorrentino Contributor

On April 27, UBC was named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers.

This marks the sixth time in a row that the university has received this award.

There are multiple reasons for this strong track record, according to John Madden, director of sustainability and engineering. A leading factor is the university’s contribution to the global knowledge and application of sustainability.

“UBC continues to advance in sustainability across teaching, learning, research, as well as operations in infrastructure and engagement of the broader community,” he said.

Programs that orient students toward sustainable practices in both the academic and everyday settings, such as the Zero Waste program, also play a role.

These programs focus on the principles of limited consumption and energy conservation. In particular, they both highlight the importance of resources like water and give students the knowledge and skills to be “stewards of the environment.”

Madden further stressed the importance of these program’s ability to engage the community due to the yearly arrival of new or international students, who might not be familiar with these practices.

“We are a very international university and we have transient

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groups that come every year,” said Madden. “[It] is important to ensure that the message is clear and that they understand the opportunity that they have to really shift the dial in terms of impacting the local environment.”

Lastly, infrastructure has been a major platform for UBC’s promotion of sustainability.

According to Madden, all new buildings on campus are required to be gold certified under Leadership in Energy and Environment’s criteria.

In the residential neighbourhoods, they are required to achieve a gold rating from the Residential Environmental Assessment Programme.

UBC is also trying to conserve energy by renovating existing

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CULTURE

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Editor samuel du bois

5

On graduating //

Falling off of Hebb’s roof and other misadventures Bailey Ramsay Former Ubyssey editor and person who will hopefully never write an exam again

When I first saw I’d been accepted to UBC, I screamed so loud that a teacher in the next classroom ran over with a fly swatter and shouted, “WHERE IS IT?” After crying on the phone to my mum, my best friend told me to meet him in our high school’s dance studio, where all of my friends were waiting to run and hug me while “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang drowned out my sobs.

And now I’m graduating. I’m fucking graduating.

It’s equal parts comical and horrifying how I’m a completely different person from who I was five years ago — despite my terrible sense of humour enduring.

As a wide-eyed first-year in Totem Park, I was constantly amazed at how everyone seemed to like the same nerdy stuff I did. I could talk about music, movies and TV shows like I was never able to in high school. I swore right then that I was going to stay in Vancouver forever.

I made some of my best friends doing laundry while wearing ridiculous fleece polar bear pajamas, attending a parkour tournament, shopping for deodorant and other odd circumstances. After I befriended these brilliant people, I held onto them tightly and took extra care not to fall out of touch.

I didn’t drink, smoke, or hook up.

When everyone went out to parties, I was stuck working part-time in a restaurant to pay rent and tuition.

I watched as everyone had the quintessential first-year experience without me. I learned vicariously through my friends’ adventures, but I also made some mistakes of my own.

I was depressed throughout the tail end of high school and was surprised that moving to UBC didn’t solve all of my problems. After the honeymoon phase, I lay in bed for weeks at a time and didn’t attend class. The way I treated my firstyear roommate during that time is unforgivable. I was an unhappy person and my biggest regret is being unfair to her.

Second year was immediately different. I was fresh out of a meal card and knew not to buy new textbooks. Walking around campus, I waved to familiar faces and felt a new sense of belonging that came with returning to campus.

I discovered that home, for me, is defined as the place you come back to and UBC was quickly becoming that.

While I had been scared to go down to Wreck Beach in first year, imagining it as a home to a populous nudist colony that engaged in frequent orgies, it became my favourite place to spend time in the winter evenings. I love the complete feeling of quiet and isolation that I can’t seem to find anywhere else in the city.

Compensating for first year, I stepped up my game and handed in polished assignments that I started days before the due date. This was a horrible decision and ultimately resulted in my disillusionment with grades and university in general.

If the only difference between a carefully crafted essay and a product

samuel du bois

Former Blog and Opinions Editor, Bailey Ramsay reflects on the many ridiculous adventures of her undergraduate degree.

from a haphazard all-nighter is a B and B+, I’ll save my time and take the B. Participation is important in a lot of English classes and everyone has a different relationship with the attendance sheet. I found myself making excuses to professors about my occasional absences, only to find they didn’t care. So I didn’t either.

However, the professors who did care about whether or not I was there made me not want to miss their classes in the first place due to their energy and passion for the material.

Let’s face it, a degree as an English lit major is basically an expensive book club with all of the forced conversation and none of the food or wine.

Besides figuring out the game of university, I was even so lucky that year as to have one of my best friends move in with me at my sweet, 13thfloor view in Walter Gage. Whenever I think of this entire year in my life, the first memory that plays is how I spent many nights holding her hand at 2 a.m while she cried, struggling with her special, thick contact lenses that she wore while she slept. I remember how hard the floor was as I faded in and out of sleep, lying next to her as she knelt before the fulllength mirror in the hallway.

Then I flew off to England to study abroad and live out another one of my dreams. I picked up an obnoxious accent, relearned how to cross the street a number of times, and went on walks (English version

of hikes) every weekend. I loved it.

I was inspired everyday to try new things by two of my wonderful roommates — one of whom put up with my ramblings for weeks on end while we travelled throughout the UK and Switzerland in cramped hostels, and the other whose wit and art has challenged me to be creative in simple everyday acts.

While I adored my new friends, I dearly missed the ones I’d left in Vancouver. For Christmas, each of my friends at UBC — who didn’t know each other — met and had a photo shoot dressed in ugly Christmas sweaters at Nitobe Gardens. Finding those photos in the mail is the greatest gift I’ve ever received. To my friends who are abroad right now and students reading this considering exchange — do it. No matter how much you think you’ll miss your friends or are scared that they will forget about you, they won’t. I promise.

A word of caution though as I inevitably became that cliché person who can’t shut up about their year abroad. Up until a few months ago, it was the happiest I’d ever been and memories replayed in my head every hour. I didn’t want to leave my second home. I fought tears whenever people asked if I was coming back to Vancouver because if it wasn’t for my financial situation, I might not have.

I returned to campus for my fourth year to find that nothing had changed. Yes, more construction fences had popped up and the

Nest was open, but it somehow felt exactly the same. I experienced intense reverse culture shock and my father announced that he had leukemia just days after I landed. I didn’t tell anyone about either until months later.

I walked into The Ubyssey office and although I’d been writing there for years, it was the first time that I felt welcome into a community and was quickly hired as copy editor.

My life soon became a numbing back-and-forth from my bed to The Ubyssey office until I found myself spending more nights there than I care to admit.

It was a safe place where I was certain I could blast music and roll around on chairs without being observed or heard. My best memories of that year were blaring David Bowie’s “Starman” and Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia” while I cleaned, mopped, and organized every corner of the office.

When my coworkers came in the next morning and voiced their confused amazement at the spotless office, I lied and said that it wasn’t me. I’ve tossed around a number of reasons for this lie, but if I’m being honest with myself, they’re all bullshit. I just wanted that night to belong to me and not share it with anyone — plus their confusion was too funny to watch.

Spurred to activism in the wake of the Pride Flag burning of 2016, I recruited one of my best friends to join me in painting the cairn rainbow and re-flying the Pride Flag. After

discovering that the flagpole was too damaged to use again, the two of us became so politically inclined as to climb up to multiple roofs around campus and hang Pride flags from each.

Few people saw them though as the university took them down early the next morning. This is also how I managed to fall off of the roof of Hebb after scaling two stories, and yet was luckily still able to walk away from a night of vigilante justice with only black bruises coating my shins.

Most of my adventures are born from restless academic angst and all of them are special because they were shared with people I care about.

Truthfully, my friendships were never the same after I got back from England and I realized that my time belonging to UBC has an expiration date. Time and proximity warp all things, no matter how strong you think you are to resist. But it doesn’t ruin them as I’ve learned that change is not synonymous with destruction.

For me, UBC isn’t defined by lectures, essays or construction, but rather its people. And people are always in flux. We are all busy and we are randomly bound by classes, social circles and maybe even offices.

Soon, visiting campus will feel like driving by an old house you used to live in. It looks the same, but there’s another family there — not yours.

In the next two weeks, all three of my jobs will come to an end in sync with my last days of class.

I can already see my schedule dramatically thinning and I’m quietly terrified of having nothing to do. With whatever spare time I crawl across however, I want to thank everyone — my professors, family, classmates, coworkers, friends and you… a stranger reading an article in The Ubyssey.

I wish my diploma noted how I’ve had 36 roommates in nine different places in the last five years, detailed how I finally learned to ride my bike with no hands after crashing into multiple people on Main Mall or illustrated the only route to sneak into the canopy walk of the UBC Botanical Gardens at 3 a.m.

Or described how to hook up your laptop to a lecture hall projector to stream a movie night on the big screens, mentioned the bruises I got from storming the wall or instructed how to build the perfect Wreck Beach bonfire.

But it won’t, and none of those things are prerequisites for job applications.

Rather, these are the things that give my degree and future career value. All these small adventures and challenges have pushed me little by little to do more crazy things like take up rock climbing, scuba diving, and even moving to Japan.

Just imagine a world in which you get paid for doing less work than you already do in university!

Yes, I’ll miss my life here terribly, but I’ll carry it with me in all the little phrases and contagious idiosyncrasies that I’ve adopted from people I probably spend way too much time with.

Goodbye, UBC. There’s honestly no rain I’d rather have soak my socks, no construction I’d rather detour around, and no classes I would have rather skipped. Thank you. U

FEATURES

Editor MOIRA WYTON

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Is the vote wasted wasted on youth?

6

Those aged 18 to 25 have the numbers to swing the vote.

But do they have the know-how?

T T

he May 9, 2017 BC election resulted in a precarious minority government for the Liberals, who were just one seat short of forming a majority government.

While 60 per cent of eligible voters reportedly cast their ballots, it is often those who do not make it to the polls who decide the result in close elections like these — and amongst these potential voters, youth are often the wildcards.

Kate Curtis, a fourth-year linguistics student, voted in the provincial election in her home riding of Vernon–Monashee.

Despite the riding running traditionally Liberal, she said she decided to strategically vote NDP because their platform aligns with her environmental concerns.

James Tugman, a fourth-year business technology student, did not vote. Provincial politics aren’t particularly interesting to him — especially compared to the current volatility of American politics — and he doesn’t believe in “voting for the sake of voting.”

Comments like these are characteristic of many voting demographics — there are always some who do and some who do not for various reasons. More commonly, though, numbers show that most eligible young people do not vote in the provincial elections.

In the 2013 BC elections, only 47.9 per cent of people aged 18 to 25 voted.

While this number is significantly higher among post-secondary students — 74 per cent of which report having voted before — students like Tugman prove that not every postsecondary student can be painted with the same brush.

Dr. Gerald Baier, an associate professor who teaches Canadian politics at UBC, remains convinced that active political participation is an imperative for youth.

“I think it really is just about accepting your responsibility as a citizen of a democratic society to impact and influence the institutions that will ultimately make laws on your behalf,” he said.

Amongst the flurry of Facebook statuses, Snapchat filters and “I voted!” stickers, youth political engagement still lingers as one big question mark. With the provincial election hanging in the balance of advance voting and absentee ballot counts, The Ubyssey dug into how youth voters like Curtis — and those who abstained like Tugman — shaped the provincial election.

TURNOUT TURN OFFS In terms of advanced polling, it appears that the early bird might just get the worm.

Advance voting polls saw record high turnout across the province, UBC included. News outlets reported advance voting at nearly 10 per cent of all votes cast on general election day, a near 70 per cent increase since 2013.

While Elections BC has focused on making advance voting even more accessible by increasing the number of days to vote in advance from four to six, the numbers do not necessarily mean that postsecondary students voted more.

“Advance voting was designed to make voting more convenient —

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY | feature | 7 and it succeeded. It does not mean, however, that making voting easier in this way increases the overall turnout rate,” said Dr. Richard Johnston, a professor of political science at UBC. “What it does is that it enables people who were most likely going to turn out anyway to do so at a more convenient time.”

In fact, he added, youth voters probably aren’t as likely to use advance voting as older voters.

He does think, however, that youth voters in general are turning out at increasingly high rates, but that this narrative is far from dominant in the media. He pointed out that in the 2013 BC elections, voters aged 18 to 24 turned out at a higher rate than voters aged 25 to 34.

“It doesn’t have the ‘man bites dog’ quality that some of these stories have, but I think actually — although the overall turnout rate is lower than it ought to be — it’s not like young voters are overcontributing to this low turnout anymore,” he said.

Baier noted that if there is an issue with lack of youth voter engagement, university students may be the wrong ones to target.

Former AMS VP External Kathleen Simpson also highlighted that it is important to recognize the differences between postsecondary students and the general 18 to 24 demographic when it comes to voting. According to the Student Issues Survey, which the AMS helped conduct earlier this spring, 74 per cent of postsecondary students voted in the 2015 federal election, compared to the 68 per cent turnout of youth in general.

“Post-secondary students are actually quite dependable voters, which I think is something that is often [overlooked] because they are lumped into the rest of their age range in terms of whether or not they are voting,” said Simpson in a March 13 interview with The Ubyssey. “[The Student Issues Survey] shows that students are voting and we can count on them to vote again in the future.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS And yet, there is still a substantial population of postsecondary students who don’t vote.

Amelia He, a first-year science student, didn’t feel that it was right to vote simply because everyone tells her to do so. As well, she expressed that she didn’t feel like she knew enough about each party’s platform to make an informed decision.

“From what I’ve seen around campus, all of the posters were just encouraging you to vote without explicitly telling people what the policies are. Am I just supposed to vote because it’s so established that voting is my duty as a citizen?” she said.

Baier does not think this should be an excuse in a time when it is arguably easy to get informed.

“We live in a kind of information-saturated world, and you can get information in so many ways. I think students sell themselves short — they might know what Kim Kardashian wore, but maybe not the NDP’s position on the Site C dam. Those are both

equally accessible, [so] let me Google that for you,” he said.

“I’m not trying to sound condescending towards young voters, but there’s a lot of information out there.”

Students do face other challenges: moving to a new city and starting university makes it difficult to connect with politics, which can vary a great deal from country to country and even between provinces and territories within Canada.

“Elections BC has worked very hard to make it easier [to vote], but if you think about that, what are we talking about? We’re talking about the last week of exams. How many students are still here? What are they thinking about?” said Johnston.

To ameliorate these barriers to voting, the AMS ran the Champion the Vote campaign, which included a debate at UBC with three of the candidates running in the Vancouver–Point Grey riding.

The AMS also collaborated with Elections BC to hold voting stations in the Nest — complete with ice cream sundaes — in order to make voting convenient for students. However, on-campus advance polling only began at UBC the day after exams ended by regulation of Elections BC. Johnston stressed that this scheduling difficulty should not be overlooked when thinking about why students cannot or do not vote.

“It’s actually pretty tough for UBC students as a collective group to exert the weight that they represent as a fraction of the electorate because they’re not necessarily here at this critical time.”

CREATURES OF HABIT Increasing youth voter turnout may not just be about getting out the word, but also about empowering students to get involved in politics from an early age.

Speaking hypothetically, Johnston explained that it might be beneficial to lower the voting age to 16 in order to increase turnout amongst university students.

“One thing we do know is that one of the most powerful influencers for whether or not you turn out this election is whether or not you turned out to the last election. There’s a kind of habit thing here,” said Johnston.

“It’s not necessarily the case that high schoolers are going to be casting votes at astronomical rates. It’s just that they’re going to start earlier, they’re going to start thinking about it earlier.”

This habitualization strategy is the idea behind initiatives like Student Vote, where elementary and high school students cast their votes in a mock polling station.

Over 170,000 students voted in the mock 2017 BC provincial results with 39 per cent voting NDP, 29 per cent voting Green and 25 per cent casting their ballots for the BC Liberals.

“The goal is that by casting a mock ballot, they are learning about the candidates and the issues,” said Dan Allan, director of content at CIVIX, the organization that runs Student Vote as well as other civic engagement projects.

AWAY WITH APATHY The stereotype that young people do not care still exists — fuelled, in part, by the fact that there are many eligible youth voters who do not vote. Curtis suggested that this stereotype may actually serve to exacerbate the problem. “[Students] are often just

relevant to the lives of students.

“I watched two debates amongst the leaders … [and they] were filled with content about policies of enormous relevance. Climate change.

Affordable housing. Transit,” he said. “You can agree or disagree with them on these issues, but all of these things affect us all profoundly.”

At a time when polling indicates that post-secondary students are nearly evenlysplit between BC’s two major

dismissed as not knowing or not being informed, even though we’re in this position of being in higher education and in a concentration of educated thought,” said Curtis. “We’re put in this self-fulfilling bias of youth don’t vote, so we don’t vote.”

According to Johnson, fighting the apathy of young voters, then, would also need to fight the perception that provincial politics is not directly

parties — with 43 per cent aligning with the BC Liberals and 45 per cent with the NDP — youth have the opportunity to change results simply by choosing to vote.

“I’m confident that every student at UBC has the capacity to learn and make decisions,” said Baier, noting that the provincial government is also in charge of important portfolios such as education and health care. “And they are as good voters as any other voter out there.” U

“The hope is that when [students] do turn eighteen and they can vote, they’ll continue on as lifelong engaged voters.”

CULTURE

Editor samuel du bois

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

8

OPINION

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Editor EMMA HICKS

travel //

Their Campus: Eating my way through Cape Town, South Africa

sex & love //

Ask Natalie: Is my “number” too high?

file josh medicoff

“If she’s really a chill gal, you’ll be able to have an open conversation about it.”

Natalie Morris Design Editor

Food lovers, rejoice!

Zach Weiss Contributor

If you’re like me, you’ll agree that the act of eating is simply one of the greatest pleasures one can experience on this Earth.

During my time on exchange in Cape Town, South Africa, I was incredibly fortunate to meet a group of people who felt the same.

We simply loved to eat — and eat we did.

Cape Town boasts one of the most impressive, diverse and comprehensive collections of restaurants and other food-related experiences on the planet. In my five months in the “Mother City,” I barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer. From authentic African cuisine, the touristy version “African” cuisine and every other possible type of cuisine imaginable, Cape Town has it all. But what makes the dining experience in Cape Town so exceptional is twofold — the accessibility and the culture.

Unlike here at UBC, in Cape Town I could order any type of food at any time and it would be

zach weiss

at my doorstep in under an hour.

With at least two impressive delivery services that cover the whole city, you can never go hungry. Furthermore, the prices are unbeatable. For the price of a spoonful of rice served at any UBC-run institution, I would receive a meal that could sustain a family of four for the evening.

The other aspect that makes the city of Cape Town so wonderful for food lovers like myself is its unapologetic embrace of its culinary experience through several events. First, and the most delicious, is the Old Biscuit Mill — a stunning sample of foods from restaurants all over the city served up every Saturday morning. Second, and just as amazing, is The Feastival — a monthly evening of food from even more restaurants, accompanied by wine tastings and live music.

So, if food is a priority when it comes to choosing your next destination, consider Cape Town.

You won’t be disappointed, I promise. U

9

“Dear Natalie, I recently started seeing this girl and we get along great and I’m super pumped about the whole thing, but during the last time I saw her, she asked me what my ‘number’ was. I didn’t want to lie and to be completely honest, I thought my ‘number’ was perfectly normal for a guy in university, but she reacted… less than ideally, I guess. I guess it was higher than what she thought.

When I asked for hers, she said something around half what I did.

I don’t care about hers and I didn’t think mine mattered either. Did I do something wrong? Should I have have lied? This is the first time I have felt like I should have.”

There’s a rumor that’s been going around and I’ll let you in on it. Your “number” is meaningless.

Literally it means nothing. As long as you’re doing all the things to make sex as safe as possible and you’re not putting yourself in physical or emotional harm’s way, your number doesn’t mean shit.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or guy or if you identify as something else, your number has as little to do with who you are as a person than say, if you prefer spring over summer. Or if at a barbeque, you ask for a hot dog or a hamburger. Or if you put on a red or blue shirt in the morning. It. Does. Not. Matter.

Apparently people haven’t gotten the message about this though, because people still ask each other’s numbers like it holds any weight at all in their current relationship.

A relationship shouldn’t be in competition with those of the past, because you can never win against a romanticized past. Your relationship should be in the present, not in the past.

You have the right attitude. It doesn’t matter and you shouldn’t be shamed by your number of past sexual partners. If it really matters to her, ask her why it matters to her so much. Is she worried that you’re not ready for a serious relationship?

Answer: Your number doesn’t affect this. Is she worried you’re going to run back to one of your exes?

Answer: While hopefully you don’t do this, your number has nothing to do with that. Is she worried that she’s not as experienced as you?

Answer: Your number doesn’t tell anyone anything about how good you are in bed.

Not that I’m saying you’re terrible in the sack, I’m sure you’re lovely, but someone could have had one partner and had sex with them every day for the last three years but when you compare them to someone who had 20 one night stands, whose number is higher? Your number doesn’t mean shit. It doesn’t matter if it’s high or low or non-existent.

People aren’t interested in your number — they’re interested in you.

“Slut-shaming” isn’t restricted to women. Sure, women generally get more — which to be honest, is probably where her nervousness about the whole “number” business is coming from — but that doesn’t mean everyone else gets off scot-free. Our society is a little bit weird about sex. That’s just how it goes.

If it bothers you still, just talk to her. If she’s really a chill gal, you’ll be able to have an open conversation about it and work through her insecurities together.

Don’t let anyone shame you for your number and don’t shame anyone else. Then the world becoming a more open and happy place.

“My roommate unfriended me on Facebook (as a joke maybe?) and after I confronted him and poked him on Facebook to defuse the tension, he blocked me. He’s acting normally other than that and he’s been playing it off as banter but I can’t tag him in memes if I don’t have him on Facebook so… how do I get him to add me back?”

Does he actually dislike you?

That will be your big indicator of if this Facebook betrayal is anything more than a running joke now. Does he respond or like the memes you tag him in? While some embrace the meme life, some do not.

Still, I’m pretty sure you can block people from tagging you in posts without deleting them, so this might go beyond the meme.

If you’re friends he’ll re-add you in a few days and life will go on. If not, well, hopefully you can find someone else to tag in those sweet, sweet doggo memes and life will go on anyway. U Need advice? Contact Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ubyssey. ca or at ubyssey.ca/advice and have your questions answered!

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SCIENCE

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Editor NIVRETTA THATRA

bacteria //

New, simpler water filtration system invented

by UBC researchers

10

Administration //

natalie morris NATALIE MORRIS

Good bacteria eat away at blockages to the mesh membrane.

UBC Policy 21 will govern the search process.

Barbara Neto-Bradley Contributor

Dr. Pierre Bérubé and his team are in the works of making drinking water more accessible — and the coolest part of it is how.

In case you’re from elsewhere in the world, here is a friendly reminder that tap water in Vancouver is safe for consumption (in other words, stop drinking bottled water immediately).

Between the moment when the glass of water you just drank was a conglomerate of snowflakes sprinkling Grouse to when it ran from your tap into your glass, much has happened.

It has probably been filtered of contaminants. This process has quite literally been pushed along with the help of pumps and chemicals.

For a large city like Vancouver, the machinery and the upkeep required to run these water treatment facilities are easily taken care of. However, in many smaller communities the financial resources and technical expertise required to operate a conventional water treatment system are unfortunately not available.

This thought process is what drove Bérubé and his team to work on developing a system that would be simpler to operate.

“There is a need for simple technologies, especially for small communities,” said Bérubé.

According to Bérubé, the complexity of small systems usually arises from the mechanical components involved.

Most conventional water filtration systems use a membrane that acts as a barrier and allows water — but not contaminants — to pass through.

Getting rid of said contaminants is not an easy task.

Currently, the many mechanical components of conventional systems need to be cleaned every half hour.

Bérubé’s team first took already available filtration technology and evaluated which components were essential and which could be removed while minimizing losses of functionality.

Next, they looked to the great outdoors for an example of how water is kept clean in streams and rivers in nature — gravity, vacuums generated by gravity and beneficial bacteria became the focal points of their recently published work.

Bérubé’s team is using bacteria that consume impurities to help clean mechanical components. The bacteria eat away at the impurities and get rid of blockages to the filtering membrane.

Thanks to bacteria, the new filtration system only needs to be cleaned every 24 hours.

Furthermore, the bacteria do not need to be closely monitored, unlike the chemicals used in conventional filtering plants, which allows the system to function without supervision.

Currently the team has a pilot system which is being closely monitored in West Vancouver.

A second pilot system — intended to be monitored less frequently — will also soon be installed in a First Nations community on Vancouver Island and will hopefully be followed by testing in rural communities in India.

The pilot system provides around six cubic metres of water per day, which according to the researchers should be enough for somewhere between 10 and 20 individuals.

Bérubé points out that the new system takes 10 times longer to process the same amount of water, but feels that this drawback is outweighed by the efficiency of the bacteria. Even large filtration systems could adopt some techniques from Bérubé’s smaller system.

“I can’t see why larger systems wouldn’t be designed that way,” he said. U

Search begins for new Dean of Science, who is hopefully “not an asshole” Nivretta Thatra Science Editor

UBC’s faculty of science is beginning the search for a new dean — not due to any juicy political reasons, but simply because current dean Dr. Simon Peacock is nearing the end of his maximum of two terms in the position.

The dean’s leadership role involves supporting the faculty internally, fundraising, alumni engagement and advocating for UBC-based research. Dean Peacock has also spearheaded the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative to improve how science is taught at UBC. The initiative ensures that teachers use evidencebased teaching in the classroom, promoting techniques that have been proven to connect with students.

“The process that we’re following is one that’s very standard for searching for other deans,” said Dr. Angela Redish, provost and vice-president academic pro tem. “The only thing that’s slightly unusual this time is that we are going to have a new provost starting July 1. I’m going to start the process and [new Provost] Andrew Szeri will complete the process.”

To kick off the search, Redish hosted a town hall on May 8 for the science community at UBC, inviting everyone she could think of to come voice their opinions.

The Ubyssey attended this meeting where professors, alumni and grad students gathered for a conversation lead by Redish.

The overall tone was jovial curiosity, with search consultant

Brent Cameron taking notes on the attendees’ concerns. “We’ll get the job description in place, and then Brent can go out and do the networking that typically takes place over the summer,” said Redish to the town hall.

Participants began by listing the many positive attributes of UBC’s faculty of science: bragging rights that will draw in someone as excellent as the existing faculty. They rattled off points easily, highlighting highranking research endeavours, the breadth of international scientific expertise available at UBC, internal collaborations and the collectively cooperative attitude of the faculty of science members.

If you’ve been feeling down about UBC’s prestige lately, the town hall members begged to differ. One attendee said, “UBC is western Canada’s flagship university. It provides leadership across an entire region and in this way the faculty strength here can be leveraged to provide national influence.”

Though there aren’t huge challenges facing an incoming dean, town hall attendees stated some for the sake of transparency, such as the fact that UBC does not receive as much provincial funding as it should given BC’s thriving economy. Furthermore, living costs in the greater metro Vancouver area could deter qualified candidates.

People hoped that the new dean will be an excellent scientist with a courageous, communicative capacity for publicly advocating for science.

“I don’t know quite how to say this but — not an asshole,” said one

attendee, describing the ideal dean.

Consequently, a sense of humour was also listed as a desired trait.

University Policy 21 will continue to guide the search.

Students in the faculty can stay informed about the process by reading the easy-to-follow Policy 21.

Working backwards, the final decision around the appointment of a dean is made by the Board of Governors. That decision is made on a recommendation by President Ono. The president’s decision is made following advice that he receives from an advisory committee. That committee is chaired by the provost (Redish, soon to be Szeri), and it has some elected representatives and some appointed representatives.

The faculty representatives on the committee are Dr. James Colliander, Dr. Michael Gold, Dr. Milind Kandlikar, Dr. Mark MacLachlan, Dr. Alla Sheffer and Dr. Dominique Weis. They come from a wide variety of science departments, including mathematics, microbiology, computer science and atmospheric science. Nicholas McGregor and Jamie Magrill are the respective graduate and undergraduate student representatives.

“When the final two or three candidates are identified, there will be an invitation to meet with students. I would encourage students to go meet the candidates and provide their feedback to the committee,” said Redish.

Looking ahead, UBC will miss Peacock’s leadership — especially in his initiatives for undergraduate education — while anticipating a new dean. U

SPORTS+REC

MAY 24, 2017 WEDNESDAY

Editor LUCY FOX

Profile//

11

What’s in the works//

International innings: UBC baseball in talks with UTokyo for potential friendly game

file jeremy johnson-silvers

Bill Situ Staff Writer

olamide olaniyan

Brisebois will be playing with the Canadian women’s volleyball team over the summer.

Meet Danielle Brisebois: UBC’s most outstanding female athlete of the year Olamide Olaniyan Staff Writer

It was the women’s volleyball national finals and poised across the court were the UBC Thunderbirds’ strongest regional rivals, the University of Alberta Pandas — the ’Birds were winning.

As Danielle Brisebois, a fifthyear outside-hitter for the team, served at game-point, a hush fell over the spectator-filled bleachers.

The Pandas’ reception went too long and UBC left-side hitter Laura MacTaggart ended the game with a two-handed smackdown.

All around Brisebois, the team erupted in celebration. She was on her knees, yelling and covering her face in joy. The rest of the team surged onto the court cheering and piling themselves around her.

Ten years ago, Brisebois did not have volleyball on her radar.

In 2007, her mom’s best friend noticed that Brisebois and her sister Taylor were tall for their age and recommended that they try out the sport.

“I just walked [onto] this team … we were both so tall and they needed players [so] they didn’t really care what our skill level was like at that point,” Brisebois said in a phone interview.

The Brisebois sisters played with the ACTS elites, a club team based out of Orangeville, Ontario before moving to a better-known team called Aurora Storm. Taylor was a year older so Brisebois always played a level higher than her age, with bigger and stronger girls.

These years of volleyball helped them both develop into better players.

While playing for Aurora Storm at the club level, Brisebois attended a private sport school in Vaughan, Ontario called The Hills Academy. The school was trying to get a volleyball program started at the time, so they brought on Dustin Reid — the current Ryerson University head coach — to build it.

In grade 10, when Brisebois

was talking with Reid, the topic of university volleyball came up. At that point, she didn’t even know that playing volleyball in university was a thing you could do. When she asked what school was the best, he said UBC. So, at the end of grade 11, as her club team went to nationals in Abbotsford, BC, she emailed UBC’s head coach Doug Reimer asking him to come watch her play.

“I was super nervous and didn’t really know what to say, or what I could say, because I wasn’t sure what he was feeling … I think they watched a little bit of me play and stuff but I suppose it was enough that they kept their interest,” said Brisebois.

The Bolton, Ontario native came to UBC and started her university career in the 2012/13 season.

That year, the team won its sixth straight national championship.

As expected, Brisebois didn’t play much, scoring only a few kills that year..

The next year, the team lost in the national final. And the season after that, 2014/15, the team finished in sixth place at the CIS championship. Even with that disappointing result, Brisebois exploded onto the scene that year for the ’Birds, averaging 3.53 kills per set and finishing with a season high of 21 kills. In her phenomenal first national championship as a starting player, she held the highest number of kills for the T-Birds.

She was on track to continue this trend in the 2015/16 season.

However, in January 2016, Brisebois sat out two games due to injury.

UBC dropped both games to the Brandon University Bobcats that weekend. According to Brisebois, the L5-S1 joint in her spine is fused abnormally. It causes some back pain and it’s hard to manage. At that point in the season, the pain had reached a new level.

“It was just … it was new and it had gotten the worst it’s been and I didn’t know how to manage it at that point. I had kind of a lateral

shift, so my torso would shift over the top of my hips,” she laughed nervously as she recounted the experience. “It was hard to move and not nice to sit or anything, but, honestly, time was the best thing for it.”

Since then, the pain hasn’t been as bad as it was that weekend, but she has had to do different workouts from the rest of the team. That year, the Thunderbirds finished in fourth place at nationals.

The national championship win in this past 2016/17 season was thus a return to former grace and an improvement on the team’s performance the year before.

“The way we came together [in the second term] ... it was just a different feel on the court compared to first term,” said Brisebois. “It just felt so calm and everyone believed in each other and even practices, they were always so fun and everyone wanted to be there and worked hard consistently.”

Brisebois was named an allstar and the championship’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Later, she was presented the Marilyn Pomfret award for being the most outstanding female athlete of the year at UBC. During her career, Brisebois has also fulfilled her dream of playing for the Canadian national team. She played on the junior team, made the B-team and trained with the senior team. Last summer, she represented Canada internationally.

She was once again named to the national team this year and will be playing with them throughout the summer. After that, she plans on going to Europe in the fall to play professionally.

Still, there’s a lot of different leagues in Europe and Brisebois isn’t entirely sure about the future.

“I don’t know where I am going to next,” she said laughing.

“There’s so many options.” U

UBC’s baseball team may be looking to expand their breadth overseas, as discussions of interest in a match against the University of Tokyo arose in President Santa Ono’s recent visit to Japan.

As it stands, the planning process for the game is only in the beginning stages.

“Right now, nothing is definitive. We’re in the middle of a conversation, but there’s mutual interest,” said Ono. He believes that holding a tournament between UBC and the University of Tokyo, also known as UTokyo or Todai, will continue to build the existing partnership between the two universities.

During Ono’s last visit to Tokyo, he signed UBC to a trilateral academic agreement with UTokyo and the Max Planck Society.

“This kind of series between university baseball teams in different nations is really a cultural experience,” said Ono. “[UTokyo] is a major collaborator of the University of British Columbia. We’ve had a relationship with them since the late 70s.”

Established in 1877, the University of Tokyo is one of the top-ranked universities in both Japan and Asia. UTokyo’s baseball team is part of the Tokyo Big6

Baseball League and has been active since 1917.

Terry McKaig — director of baseball operations at UBC — is also looking forward to the potential game against UTokyo given his own baseball history.

During his playing days with the National Baseball Institute in 1995/96, McKaig played a match against Keio University, another Big6 League team.

McKaig believes that organizing a game between the two universities will be beneficial when it comes to recruiting. Scheduling international games, according to McKaig, will make the T-Birds a more appealing choice for recruits.

“Usually a recruit will look at your schedule. They want to see who you play,” said McKaig. “A lot of schools don’t play teams from Asia, so that would be something that I think would make us a little bit unique.”

Whether the match against UTokyo can take place will depend largely on its financial feasibility.

Still, McKaig sees the project as an initiative to enhance student experience at the university and is grateful for Ono’s support.

“Professor Ono’s been really supportive of it and it’s great to have a president that’s willing to help start these talks,” said McKaig. “Then it’s up to us with the schools to see if we can make it work.” U

U

THE UBYSSEY

12 | games | WEDNESDAY MAY 24, 2017

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1- Russian ruler; 5- Mil. truant; 9- Vice ___; 14- Summoned; 15- Relocate; 16- Troy story; 17- High speed motorboat; 19- Wanderer; 20- Hoi ___; 21- Theater box; 23- Gown renters:Abbr.; 24- ___ Pieces; 26- NASA failure; 28- Actor Leary; 30- Super Bowl III MVP; 34- Trick ending?; 37- Art of writing in shorthand; 39- Coral formation; 41- Acquire; 42- Hollow grass; 43- Producing honey; 48- Perceive; 49- Llama relative; 50- Dogma; 52- Richard of “Chicago”; 54- Rarely encountered; 57- Penpoint; 60- Bric-a-___; 62- Island greetings; 64- Like Humpty Dumpty; 66- Take place; 68- ___ is human; 69- Jazz flutist Herbie; 70- “Not guilty,” e.g.; 71- Like some vbs.; 72- Auction site; 73- Automobile pioneer; DOWN 1- Recipe amt.; 2- Flavor; 3- Designer Simpson; 4- Staggered; 5- Encompassing; 6- Court; 7- Egg-shaped; 8- Divulge; 9- Impure acetic acid; 10- “Evil Woman” grp.; 11- Lens holders; 12- German river; 13- Increases; 18- Prescribed amounts; 22- Chime; 25- Prolonged attack; 27- Bridge expert Sharif; 29- Hagar the Horrible’s dog; 31- Mimics; 32- Biblical pronoun; 33- Jekyll’s alter ego; 34- Humorist Bombeck; 35- Winder for holding flexible material; 36- Quick sharp bark; 38- Siouan speakers; 40- National symbol; 44- Floating mass; 45- Actor Jamie; 46- Mysterious; 47- Closes; 51- Excessively; 53- Words on a Wonderland cake; 55- Penetrating cold; 56- Dog-___ (like some used books); 57- Denier’s words; 58- Songwriter Novello; 59- Boxer Max; 61- Pinchy crustacean; 63- Mariners can sail on seven of these; 65- Quattro minus uno; 67- Santa___ winds;

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Anthony Labonte

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