February 27, 2018

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 | VOLUME XCIX | ISSUE XXV KURT FUCKING BROWNING SINCE 1918

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P / 03

P / 05

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NEWS

CULTURE

AMS Indigenous committee unlikely this year

OPINIONS

The Ponderosa Cake is out there...

“[Do I] just say, ‘Yo bro, choke me a bit?’”

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P / 10

SCIENCE

SPORTS

Videos take down The T-Birds science’s ivory smash-or-pass this towers season’s playoffs

THE UBYSSEY

Choosing 'between groceries and rent' Hundreds of professors at UBC are struggling to simply pay their bills // Page 6

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FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

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OUR CAMPUS

Our Campus: Krisztina Laszlo preserves underrepresented history in UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 MAKING ART WITH AI LECTURE | STEVE DIPAOLA 4 P.M. @ ORCHARD COMMONS | ROOM 4074 UBC Emerging Media Lab Lecture Series REGISTER ONLINE

THURSDAY, MARCH 1 AMS GREAT DEBATE 2018 4 P.M. @ AMS NEST We ask the questions that get the students going.

What does that even mean?

No one knows what it means, but it’s provocative.

Diversity and respect are very important aspects of the collection.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 to SATURDAY, MARCH 3 HOWL AT THE MOON VOLLEYBALL 5 P.M. to 1 A.M. @ UBC REC Pulling an all-nighter has never been so much fun!

REGISTRATION ONLINE

ON THE COVER COVER BY Patrick Gillin “Is that Jack Hauen’s profile?”

Want to see more events or see your event listed here – for free? ubyssey.ca/events

U THE UBYSSEY

EDITORIAL

STAFF

Coordinating Editor Sophie Sutcliffe, Joshua Azizi, Jack Lamming, Jack Hauen coordinating@ubyssey.ca Tristan Wheeler, Zubair H i r j i , Z a k Ve s c a r a , Charlotte Beaulieu, Iyanu Design Editor Owolabi, Clare Skillman, Natalie Morris printeditor@ubyssey.ca Olamide Olaniyan, Negin Nia, S alomon Micko Benrimoh, Samantha News Editors Searle, Kristine Ho, Bill Samantha McCabe & Situ, Divija Madhani, Alex Nguyen Lawrence Ge, Veronica news@ubyssey.ca Ciastko, Danielle Olusanya, Liz Wang, Ryan Culture Editor Neale, Mitchell Ballachay, Samuel Du Bois Shelby Rogers, James culture@ubyssey.ca Vogl, Aziz Sonawa, Jordan Byrum, Lua Presídio, Aiken Sports + Rec Editor Lao, Emma Livingstone, Lucy Fox Claire Lloyd, Ashley Dhanda, Saman Shariati, sports@ubyssey.ca Tiffany Ou, Joseph Kennel, Andrea Garza, Sarah Video Producer Neubauer, Thea Udwadia, Kate Colenbrander Ryan Patrick Jones, Jacob video@ubyssey.ca White, Patrick Hatch, Grace Young, Allison Opinion + Blog Editor Gacad, Alison Knill, Emma Emma Hicks Ng, Novera Sayed, Jenny opinion@ubyssey.ca Xu, Koby Michaels, Aidan Tong, Bridget Chase, Science Editor Henry Anderson, Gabriel Nivretta Thatra Robinson-Leith, Julia science@ubyssey.ca Burnham, Scott Young Photo Editor Partick Gillin photos@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Moira Wyton features@ubyssey.ca

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 | VOLUME XCIX| ISSUE XXV

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to the University of British Columbia (UBC) and/or topics relevant to students attending UBC. Submissions must be written by UBC students, professors, alumni, or those in a suitable position (as determined by the opinions editor) to speak on UBC-related matters. Submissions must not contain 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.

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Account Manager Adam McQueen adam@ubyssey.ca Senior Web Developer Peter Siemens peter@ubyssey.ca LEGAL The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Tuesday by The Ubyssey Publications Society.

We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization and all students are encouraged to participate.

Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to acknowledge that this paper and the land on which we study and work is the traditional, occupied, unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Gabriel Robinson-Leith Staff Writer

Krisztina Laszlo, an archivist for UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collections (RBSC), has been collecting pieces of BC history for the last three years. The RBSC — located on the first floor of Irving K. Barber Learning Centre — is home to centuriesold maps of British Columbia, personal correspondences from Charles Darwin and an illustrated interpretation of Alice in Wonderland from Salvador Dali, among tens of thousands of other treasures.

As the person in charge of primary source documents, Laszlo works with the local community to organize original papers, archival records and first person accounts of BC history.

The RBSC Library at UBC specializes in several different aspects of British Columbia history, including records from resource extraction industries from the 19th century, British Columbia arts and culture, politics and labour history, as well as Vancouver immigration and settlement records.

“People often just come to us,” she said. “I get emails randomly, saying, ‘I have this, would you be interested in it?’” When someone offers the RBSC an old letter or an archival record, the librarians will evaluate its suitability for the collection and decide whether it fills any gaps in the current records.

With all the different types of material that the RBSC houses, diversity and respect are very important aspects of the collection. “We try to be

representative of all the different communities, people and cultures that have come to BC and built the province,” said Laszlo.

By working with other archivists in the community, Laszlo tries to bring in material that fits within specialized streams. If she receives an item that would be a better fit elsewhere, she might call another place, such as the City of Vancouver Archives or the Simon Fraser University Special Collections. “Maybe, even though [a piece of work] is really great, it would be better at one of those other institutions,” she noted.

Laszlo is currently working to expand the voices of women within the collection.

She collects personal correspondences and diaries of women who wrote about historical events happening around them. These kinds of materials bring a different perspective to history that might otherwise have been lost.

When asked about some of her favourite artifacts, Laszlo laughed at the impossibility of choosing any one item.

“There’s lots, it’s so hard,” she said. “It depends on the day. There are so many new and interesting things coming in all the time.”

Among her top picks are an album of photographs of BC from the 1850s to 1950s, a collection of counter-culture newspapers from the Vietnam War era, and records from a reclusive Christian mystic who withdrew to Port Moody and published books about spirituality and feminism. Recently, Laszlo

PATRICK GILLIN

has been working with Dr. Katherine Sirluck from the UBC English department to organize the records of Beverley Rosen Simmons, an avant-garde Canadian writer and playwright.

While Laszlo loves collecting and organizing pieces of BC history, her main job is to provide faculty and students at UBC access to these records for research and learning. By collecting from a wide range of primary source documents, Laszlo helps faculty and students approach history from several different perspectives. For example, first person accounts from both loggers and protestors of the BC forestry industry help show opposing sides of the fight for sustainable logging.

While there are a few classes that regularly tour the archives, any student can come in for personal research and snoop through the records. Laszlo works with Chelsea Shriver, the Rare Books and Special Collections librarian, to get students interested and engaged with the library. Recently, the RBSC has launched a “Go Somewhere Unexpected” poster campaign to get students interested in all the treasures in the collection.

“I think it’s part of the academic engagement, that if you’re going to be a robust university you need to be able to provide for your university population,” Laszlo said. “To have vibrant and interesting and full collections, archival materials and primary source materials, it just helps create an environment to ask questions, and to find some answers.” U

NEWS

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITORS SAMANTHA MCCABE + ALEX NGUYEN

3

LEADERSHIP CHANGE //

UBC Board of Governors elects new leadership Alex Nguyen News Editor

Following an election within the UBC Board of Governors (BoG), it was announced that former ViceChair Michael Korenberg has been made the new chair. BoG member Sandra Cawley succeeds Korenberg as the new vice-chair.

Korenberg replaces Stuart Belkin, who stepped down from his role following a two-year term.

As confirmed by UBC VP External Relations Philip Steenkamp, Belkin also stepped down from his seat in BoG itself despite his current term running until December 2018.

It is currently unclear who the provincial government will appoint to fill his vacant seat and how long this would take.

Belkin was first appointed by the province to BoG in December 2015, following former Chair John Montalbano’s resignation over accusations of academic freedom infringement. Since then, Belkin oversaw a troubled BoG that was bogged down by governance issues and a vote of no-confidence from the Faculty Association, the appointment

It’s currently unclear who the provincial government will appoint to fill Belkin’s vacant seat.

of UBC President Santa Ono and the creation of a new strategic plan.

With these achievements, he “felt it was an appropriate time to make leadership changes,” as stated in a UBC press release.

Outside of his UBC involvement, Belkin is the chairman and CEO of the Belkorp Group, which started as a packaging company but has grown

to encompass a variety of businesses.

The Belkorp Group is a significant financial contributor to the BC Liberal Party.

First appointed to BoG by the province in 2016, Korenberg was also elected BoG vice-chair the same year. At the end of 2017, his term was renewed by the NDP government until December 30, 2019.

FILE KOSTA PRODANOVIC

Throughout his time at BoG, he has chaired the Finance & Endowment Responsible Investment Policy committees and sat on the Executive, Property, Governance, Audit committees, the UBC Investment Management Trust and other advisory committees.

Cawley is the current chair of the Property Committee, the

Leadership Council for UBC Line Advocacy Strategy and the Land Use Committee, as well as a member of the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee and the UBC Properties Trust Board of Directors.

Her term ends in December 2018.

“Sandra Cawley and I would like to thank our fellow Board members for their vote of confidence in our leadership,” reads Korenberg’s statement. “We are committed to putting in place the supports needed to advance the teaching, research and community engagement mission of the university as reflected in the new strategic plan.”

Notably, Korenberg and Cawley have committed to the creation of a BoG committee on Indigenous partnership. It is to be chaired by BoG member Celeste Haldane, who is part of the Musqueam and Metlakatla communities.

“Of particular importance will be our work to improve the access of Indigenous students to higher education, to enhance knowledge of Indigenous history and to address issues of importance to Indigenous communities,” reads Korenberg’s statement. U

INDIGENEITY //

‘Long overdue’: Student calls for AMS to implement Indigenous committee

“I have witnessed the AMS address issues that affected me as a student, but in an un-holistic manner.”

Samantha McCabe News Editor

When Rodney Little Mustache attended the AMS VP Academic and University Affairs (VPAUA) byelection debate this past September, he asked both candidates if they would support developing an Indigenous committee. He was met with a mixed bag of student governance rhetoric and on-thespot enthusiasm.

“I do believe that the AMS does have problems with representing Indigenous students,” said thencandidate Max Holmes. “I would say that I am very supportive of looking into this committee and seeing how we can structure the AMS to make sure that Indigenous ideas are represented. ... I would say that we should expand this to our entire community. I think it’s a great idea.”

“I would have to look at the specifics of it,” said candidate Franz Kurtzke.

A month later, Mustache — a third-year GRSJ mature student and a member of the Piikani Nation — submitted a letter and an accompanying proposal outlining actionable items that he recommended the AMS take to better support and represent Indigenous students on campus.

“I have witnessed the AMS address issues that affected me as a student, but in an un-holistic manner,” reads the introduction of the letter. “My past 15 years of work, social justice and governance experience have prompted me to speak to the need for an Indigenous Committee within the AMS, as the formation of one is long overdue.”

Based on Mustache’s recommendations, this committee would function to generate greater inclusion of Indigenous perspectives, engage more Indigenous students both through participation in the committee and its actions, as well as align

DIANA OPROESCU

AMS governance structure with Vancouver’s vision of being a “City of Reconciliation.”

He sees the issue first and foremost as one of low Indigenous enrolment at UBC. “I would love to see more First Nations students here, and I would love to see their funding increased,” Mustache said in a November interview with The Ubyssey. He suggested a referendum declaring UBC student’s support for increased federal funding for Indigenous students as one potential initiative to accomplish this goal.

He also pointed to several specific areas that the committee could address: the presence of Indigenous performers at AMS events as well as advocacy regarding Indigenous admissions processes, housing and postsecondary funding options.

“When I started here, I started going to the AMS meetings. There was no First Nations there —

and I was shocked to see that,” Mustache said.

“In order for First Nations students to get that feeling of being elected, not just to the Indigenous committee but to the AMS as well, it has to be very inclusive to them in certain ways, and I guess one of the ways is that the Indigenous committee is way up for them ... to understand the issues.”

He also hopes that this committee would increase sensitivity training within the AMS, particularly regarding the rhetoric that campus leaders use when speaking about potentially triggering topics like Indigenous issues or sexual assault.

Mustache pointed to a few top Canadian schools that do have Indigenous-specific structures in place as examples that the AMS should follow. McGill’s SSMU has an Indigenous affairs working group as well as an Indigenous subcommittee under a joint BoardSenate committee on equity. The University of Toronto has a social justice and equity commission which includes their Indigenous sub-commission.

He acknowledged the existence of the Indigenous Officer of Council, which is currently an AMS position under the Equity Caucus, but thinks that a group would provide more effective advocacy and community-building.

During an interview with The Ubyssey in November, the thenrecently elected VPAUA Holmes said, “I think it’s super important that we do look at new avenues and we are doing a lot of things to change how we engage with Indigenous communities.”

He pointed to the revamping of the Musqueam Nation communications policy — which is coming up on its mandatory three-year review — and the continual reexamination of the Academic Experience Survey as examples of initiatives that the

AMS is taking under the umbrella of Indigenous issues.

But the AMS will not be creating a standing committee — a permanent entity mandated to report to bi-monthly Council meetings — on Indigenous issues.

“The reason for that is because Indigenous communities are going to be better represented, and we’re going to be able to get more input from Indigenous communities, if we have an advisory group,” Holmes said.

This advisory group, he said, could meet with Holmes once a month for discussion on current issues and to “inform [his] advocacy,” much like the existing VP Academic caucus.

He envisions it as made up of Indigenous students, professors and community members — whereas a standing committee, by AMS Code, would have to contain too many councillors who might not understand the issues.

Holmes said that another reason would be because the AMS just conducted — and is still in the lengthy process of implementing — their governance review, it is generally best practice to wait before making additional or different structural changes. That review, which was conducted by the independent firm MNP two years ago, made many of its final recommendations based on interviews with AMS councillors.

No councillors were Indigenous students at that time.

“The ultimate goal for creating [it] is to have more informed advocacy,” said Holmes.

“A First Nations perspective within the AMS, a larger voice, would show that we are willing to work with the AMS. It’s a first step, and then we can work on things after that,” said Mustache. “It’s a give and take. That’s part of reconciliation: honouring our past and what we’ve been through, and we can honour you in certain ways as well.” U

4 | news | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2018 AMS BUSINESS //

‘Down in the dumps’: Pit Pub revamps operations to boost tepid profit Henry Anderson Staff Writer

After AMS Managing Director Keither Hester acknowledged that the Pit is “down in the dumps” at the January 10 Council meeting, the society has now reintroduced food services and revamped the pub’s operations to boost its tepid profit.

This is not the first time the pub has seen “waning popularity.”

AMS President Alan Ehrenholz attributed the Pit’s business problems to several factors, including being pigeonholed as just Pit Night or a night hangout space.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that the Pit has been struggling,” Ehrenholz said. “I think the Pit might be viewed as something that’s Wednesday nights only during Pit Night, and that’s not what the Pit is.”

It also struggles to compete with various bars on campus, especially the direct competition from the AMS’s other bar, Gallery 2.0.

To address these issues, the Pit has attempted to reinvent its image as a sports bar and hangout spot during the day. Its new menu contains a wide variety of gourmet food and craft beer, with items like the “Oi Oi Oi Aussie,”

FILE WILL MCDONALD

“I don’t think it’s a secret that the Pit has been struggling.”

“Nearly Naked,” “Hawaiian” and “Pico De Gallo” burgers.

Certain changes were based on the results of a questionnaire that the AMS sent out last month, which asked what students look for when they go out.

“The answer was cheap beer and good food, and we think that’s something that we’ve been able to answer with this

new burger menu,” he said.

“And honestly, I think we can boast some of the cheapest beer prices on campus and externally, so those are all good things to consider if students are looking for a beverage.”

But some students think prices are still too high.

“All of those burgers were $3 less expensive at the old sub

burger bar,” commented Reddit user CatfishApocalypse. “The prices were low enough before that I would consider stopping for a burger and a brew after class.

Now they’re too high, so I’d rather go and eat at home instead.”

Others agree with this sentiment, but one user also has “high hope” for the new food’s quality.

The pub’s activities are also going to be expanded to help it move away from the Pit Nightonly image. For instance, it is hosting more viewings of sporting events, like the Champions League and the 2018 Olympic Games, to capitalize on the big screens. The space will be opened up for event bookings on nights other than Wednesday as well, which is available for free for AMS clubs. “[We want the Pit to be] a bookable space for different sorts of events, not just Pit Nights on Wednesdays, but a variety of events that student groups are looking to host,” Ehrenholz said.

And he emphasized that any increase in profit from these changes will go back to the serve students.

“As a student society, we’re not here to make profit off our students, and we call what our businesses make each year ‘contributions’ back to the student government side, back to our services,” Ehrenholz said.

“Their contribution enhances the society as a whole and enhances what we can provide the students through the services and other things.” U

HARM REDUCTION //

How to make substance use safer in the ongoing fentanyl overdose crisis informed, trusted people nearby to provide assistance if necessary.

“If they are partaking in any of these substances, do it in a group of people they are comfortable with, and with people who can make sure they’re safe,” said Hamid.

CARRY NALOXONE

“Vancouver has been a hotspot for harm reduction in North America for many, many years.”

Zak Vescera Senior Staff Writer

In the face of the ongoing fentanyl overdose crisis, UBC, campus organizations and Vancouver at large are taking steps to provide medical and psychological support for substance users. Many of these steps are based around the philosophy of harm reduction — principles and methods that make substance use safer for users.

“Vancouver has been a hotspot for harm reduction in North America for many, many years,” said Cameron Schwartz, a harm reduction worker at Karmik — a

Vancouver-based organization that advocates for nonjudgemental, accessible harm reduction services.

“But in the last few years, fentanyl has been a big issue.”

Fentanyl, a powerful opioid, has been found in an ever-increasing percentage of substances in Vancouver, according to a recent study conducted by UBC Professor Dr. William Honer. Last year, 81 per cent of BC overdose deaths involved fentanyl.

With this widespread contamination in illicit drugs, the safest option is not to use substances at all — but this isn’t always realistic.

LUIS BUSCA / KARMIK

“It’s more advantageous for us to meet people where they’re at and not where we want them to be,” said AMS Student Services Manager Marium Hamid.

Accordingly, Schwartz and Hamid have underlined a number of general steps that members of the UBC and greater Vancouver community can take to make substance use safer.

DON’T USE ALONE Roughly 90 per cent of overdose deaths last year occurred when users were alone, usually indoors. The simplest step to safer use is to have

In case of an overdose, having people nearby who can administer naloxone can be life-saving.

Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that can temporarily offset the effects of an overdose to allow time for medical professionals to assist the user. Usually administered intravenously, naloxone kits can be accessed for free and anonymously at a number of pharmacies around Vancouver, on campus and at Student Health Services.

AMS VICE and Karmik have also hosted two naloxone training parties on campus last year, simultaneously equipping hundreds of students with the kits.

“The easiest step to use would be to not use alone, to carry naloxone and be trained in reversing an overdose using naloxone,” said Schwartz.

TESTING SUBSTANCES In BC, fentanyl has been found in every tested illegal substance except for marijuana, meaning there’s no guarantee on what is or isn’t laced.

“People who are choosing to do these drugs — that decision comes with the risk of not knowing what strength it’s going to be or knowing what’s in it,” said Schwartz. “I’d caution against saying ‘this has fentanyl and this doesn’t.’”

“It’s often difficult for dealers to know where it’s coming from,” Hamid said.

For those wanting to take an extra step, anonymous drug checking services are available at InSite and the Powell Street Getaway at select hours. These organizations can use test strips as well as an advanced piece of equipment called a Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) to detect additives in substances.

Due to their location in the Downtown Eastside, these services might be difficult for UBC students to access. In response, Karmik has recently hosted two drug checking nights at the Powell Street Getaway aiming to attract people from both in and outside the Downtown Eastside.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT For those seeking to reduce or control their personal substance use, AMS VICE offers a set of oncampus resources.

“The AMS will offer free confidential and ongoing support for people who are either suffering from or have the possibility of using drugs, or who have an addiction,” said Hamid.

She stressed that VICE offers support for people seeking both group support or one-on-one discussion. For students seeking support outside UBC, the service can also connect them with professional resources within their own community.

For more general emergency support, Schwartz recommended keeping a crisis number on hand and advocated for a nonjudgemental, proactive approach to supporting users seeking help.

“If you’re someone who’s using a drug but if you want help, [try] to be more open about that,” he said. “Have someone who can be there to make the group or the usage safer.” U

CULTURE

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITOR SAMUEL DU BOIS

5

CONSPIRACY? //

The mysterious history of UBC’s darkest confectionary creation Angela O’Donnell Contributor

Ponderosa Cake — you see it at the pool, at Ike’s cafe or when you’re watching the news in the law building. Maybe you saw someone eating it once in your SOCI 100 lecture. It’s brown... maybe?

Actually, more of a speckled grey.

Wait, no... yeah, it’s brown. It’s like a lump of nourishment but with few identifiable features. The smell of cinnamon comes to mind when you think about it — cinnamon and your failed WRDS 150 midterm.

Maybe you ate a slice once on a coffee date with your BIOL crush or crying into your final paper.

There’s also a good chance that you have no idea what I’m talking about.

Ponderosa Cake is a coffee-caketype loaf sold by UBC Food Services.

Firmly swaddled in plastic wrap and heavy enough to balance out a smallish textbook, the smattering of chocolate chips on top adds to the promise of enjoyable carb-loading.

One serving can help you power through the longest study session, the worst hangover or the lowestbudget day of the month.

I first heard legends of Ponderosa Cake when I was young. My mother would regale me with stories about her youthful academic menu of Cinnamon Buns, the Bus Stop diner and the awe-inspiring Ponderosa Cake. Her tales of wolfing down large hunks of cake while running from one end of campus to another grew in my mind. When I came to UBC, I was excited to establish my own cake-lore, even share my excitement of the under-appreciated food in an article chronicling its history and culture. The UBC Cinnamon Bun having long been exalted, I thought it was Ponderosa Cake’s chance to shine.

It was supposed to be a quick and easy puff piece. I was so wrong.

A quick Google search shows 367,000 results for “Ponderosa Cake.” Duncan Hines, the Vancouver School Board and “Mennonite Girls Can Cook” all have recipes for the cake but no explanation of the cake’s history.

By the time I reached the 18th page in Google, seeing only countless Insta-pics and reading quirky blog posts, I knew something was up.

A rare sighting of the cake in its natural habitat.

The internet had failed me — I needed to try actual research.

I trekked to the IKB basement and asked the university’s archivists if they had any information on Ponderosa Cake. Their blank faces should have been a clue.

“Search The Ubyssey’s archives,” they said in unison. “Or maybe the alumni magazine.”

The ink from flipping through decades of Ubyssey papers still stains my fingers from the cake-less search.

“This newspaper is 100 years old and doesn’t have any information on an internet famous cake?” I thought to myself. A creeping suspicion was starting to come across my brain, but I didn’t want to admit it. The more I worried, the more I needed to know: Ponderosa Cake is real, right?

My next method of research involved searching the open collection of UBC publications.

The database searches through all of the university’s digitized publications since 1915. This has to be it, I thought.

The database came up with 11 pitiful results: one reference described the food at a celebration; two advertisements for UBC Food Services’ cafes mentioned it; the same story of an alumni’s memories is quoted twice; there are two

Where the Ponderosa Cake is known to be made.

ANGELA O’DONNELL

references in an ad for the same UBC Food Services’ cookbook and it was used in both the university’s 2007/08 and 2008/09 calendars to describe food on campus.

It felt like there should have been more, and a fear was starting to set in that I was never going to find the origin story — the roots and reach of Ponderosa cake in its decades at UBC. A cookbook! I thought — often they have little anecdotes on their recipes. If I could find the cookbook, I could find the history. I tracked down a single copy of Treats to Remember, a collection of recipes from UBC kitchens, at the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

When I discovered the small green book, I first found a long paragraph on the history of the UBC Cinnamon Bun and how much it had meant to the students.

The thorough story gave me hope for the Ponderosa Cake. Finally, I’ll know. I flipped the page.

“Ponderosa Cake is a cake loved by all students. Here’s how to make it in your own home.”

As my cake-filled world came crashing down around me, the fire alarm went off on the floor of the library that I was on. Everyone

ANGELA O’DONNELL

was evacuated and fire trucks came blaring. Five minutes later, standing outside in the rain, I realized that I had just walked out with a book from the library without checking it out.

I thought that I had come to a dead end, but I had one more lead to follow.

I went straight to the source: Leith Blachford, director of marketing and communications for Student Housing and Hospitality Services. My request was simple: “Do you have any information on the history of Ponderosa Cake or know someone who might?”

The response was swift: “[There] doesn’t seem to be much of a story behind it.”

They quoted the executive culinary director, “[Ponderosa cake] is actually just banana bread with chocolate chips ... Perhaps there is more merit in looking forward than backwards.”

My correspondent urged me to switch gears and write about the Food Services’ new banana bread.

My suspicion had been confirmed; UBC Food Services was trying to kill off Ponderosa Cake.

Not only did the cake have no past, it seems it wasn’t going to have a future, either!

An interview was arranged — this time with Andy Chan, the executive sous-chef of UBC Food Services. The cafeteria at Orchard Commons was buzzing with excited first-year students on my walk through to the commissary kitchen. When Chan came out of a meeting, we went to a back corner of the Orchard dining hall.

I started the interview off simply, “What is Ponderosa Cake?”

“So, Ponderosa Cake basically is like banana bread,” he said.

“The difference between banana bread and Ponderosa Cake is we put chocolate chips and cinnamon [in it].”

I asked Chan about Food Services’ plans to replace Ponderosa Cake with a new banana bread.

Chan said, “[We’ve] got this new food vision so we try to be more healthy.” He told me about how they had tried to change the recipe for the granola bar, but students had complained and they changed it back.

“So as of right now, we are not switching anything.”

When asked if they were trying to swap the banana bread for Ponderosa Cake, Chan told me, “We won’t phase it out right now.”

Finally, I asked if they had ever discussed phasing it out. Chan gave me a simple no.

I then asked about the cake’s history. I learned that Ponderosa Cake was invented in the 1960s, and that it was named after the bakeshop in the old Ponderosa building. The cake is made of all the old bananas that can’t get sold in dining halls and cafes because they are no longer attractive. The recipe has stayed the same for the 60 years the cake has existed, and the most authentic recipe is the one in the Treats to Remember cookbook.

It’s still popular with older students but not so much with younger ones. Chan attributed this to the fact that “there’s more options now” — students have more choice on what to snack on.

It sells out almost everyday at the cafes around campus so they rarely have to throw away extras.

He also told me that he once heard a story that a student saw the cake being sold in Japan.

I was heartened to hear that Ponderosa Cake still has a following.

It sells out every day! People still eat it! It’s international now!

After the interview, I had a tour of the kitchen and saw where the cake was still being made. I saw the giant bin of cinnamon sugar that they use for both the Cinnamon Buns and the Ponderosa Cake. I saw the deep pans that they bake the cake in and a fresh cake in its calorie-full glory. Chan left me in the bakeshop as he looked up some numbers for me and I saw the Food Services employees icing all the Valentines cookies for the campus and stretching the dough for the Cinnamon Buns. Any animosity I had held for the UBC Food Services for trying to take my cake away from me evaporated in the sugar-laden air. Chan returned to tell me me exactly how many Ponderosa Cakes they had sold last year — 17,484 — and led me out of the kitchen.

Just as I was leaving, Chan stopped in front of the cold kitchen. He told me that they actually had discussed phasing out the Ponderosa Cake.

“Before, we were discussing we should make something healthier...

We talked and never took action.”

I asked when this discussion happened.

“Like, last year ... when we were thinking of the vision,” he said.

He also said they didn’t make the change because they didn’t know how the students would react, but assured me that they “don’t want to make the switch right now.”

When I asked if they might discuss it in the future, he told me that “there will be future talks,” but there would be a student-based survey if it happened.

The sun was shining when I walked out of Orchard Commons, but a stiff breeze had started up.

I had gotten the grim answer I expected. The cake’s fate is still in jeopardy. I would just have to wait and see what the future would hold for the mysterious Ponderosa Cake. U

FEATURES

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITOR MOIRA WYTON

6

Choosing 'between groceries P

rofessor Colin Green has been teaching in UBC’s history department for 15 years — but at least once a year, he has to re-apply for his job.

“I teach the same teaching load as regular faculty in my department,” said Green. “I teach 12 credits and for those 12 credits, I get paid around $32,000. The lowest paid assistant professor in our department makes $90,000.”

Green is a sessional lecturer, one of 437 at UBC who are hired on short-term contracts.

While sessionals often teach the same number of courses as permanent faculty, their pay and treatment are far from equal.

Sessionals like Green often report feeling stuck — unable to progress in a competitive academic environment they believe places little value on employees who are, at the end of the day, expendable.

With no job security and low pay in one of the most expensive cities in North America, hundreds of employees at a world-class university are struggling to simply pay their bills.

CHOOSING ‘BETWEEN GROCERIES AND RENT’ Facing tighter and tighter budgets, the appeal of replacing retiring faculty with flexible, inexpensive contract workers is too much to resist for Canadian universities. The Canadian Association of University Teachers estimates that contract faculty numbers have tripled since 1999, while regular faculty have only seen a 14 per cent increase. According to CBC, more than half of Canadian undergraduates are now taught by professors on short-term contracts.

While permanent professors have fixed salaries, sessionals are paid by the course and at UBC, pay for sessional lecturers is based on subject and seniority. A senior law professor can be paid $11,000 or more per course, while a less established engineering professor could get as little as $4,000 for the same number of credits.

UBC Faculty Association Contract Faculty Committee Chair Sarika Bose said the nature of this pay scale means many of her peers aren’t financially secure.

“Some sessional faculty are in a position where they have to choose between heat and rent, or groceries and rent,” said Bose, who is herself a sessional lecturer in the English department.

A senior sessional professor in the faculty of arts can make as much as $55,000 a year, but the number of courses taught is decided by the department, so there’s no guarantee of work.

“If you are a single parent or a single person, it can be really difficult,” said Bose. “When you’re teaching, you can feel distracted — ‘Will I be able to pay the rent in May because my contract ends in April?’”

UBC Vice Provost and Associate Vice President Academic Affairs Eric Eich — who has

been a sessional lecturer in the past — said some enjoy the position because they’re able to focus solely on teaching, as opposed to the research and administrative responsibilities that come with a permanent position.

“Sometimes if you have a person and they’re teaching in a very specialized area, then they just maybe want to teach that one course,” he said, though he recognized that those are the minority.

“For probably the larger number of people, it’s a very tough way to have a satisfying career,” he said. “You’re going to lack the certainty that would come with a tenured position, for instance, or a lot of the other benefits that would come with a full-time faculty position, so it’s not easy.”

Many sessional faculty take on multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Green, for example, is also a full-time instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, a position he balances with a full-time course load at UBC. “I have to teach [extra] courses at Kwantlen just to get within spitting distance of UBC salaries,” he said.

As Bose explained, this solution comes with its own drawbacks.

“If you are not paid at a wage that works in this city ... you have to take on the extra work,” she said. “Where do you find the time to do all that extra research to keep up with the pedagogy?”

Eich said the university is working to replace sessionals with 12-month “lecturer” contracts that will run for up to three years at a time. Those contracts will be renewable indefinitely “upon evidence that they’re doing a really good job, really excellent teaching,” he said.

Eich expects the number of sessionals to “drop dramatically” in the coming years.

“It would be a real step forward because in those cases [professors wouldn’t be] splitting their time [between] different departments, different universities, even,” he said. “Instead they would have a home ... and they’d be part of the faculty, part of the sinew of that department. And I think that’s a lot more rewarding.”

Compared to most sessional salaries, lecturer positions are well paid. A lecturer in the arts department makes around $62,000 a year, compared to $55,000 for someone at the top of the sessional pay scale. But while sessionally contracted faculty aren’t generally expected to do work beyond teaching, faculty in lecturer positions can be tasked with course preparation and service requirements that aren’t explicitly outlined in their contracts. That means that a teacher on a 12-month lectureship could potentially do more work relative to their salary than a sessional teacher.

‘WHEN DO YOU DO YOUR GRADING? ON THE BUS?’ Often forced to work extended hours and multiple jobs to make ends meet, many sessionals find it difficult to fulfill their responsibilities with the limited support they’re given.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as trying to loan. Because contracts are typically no lo than two school terms, sessional lecturers have guaranteed long-term employment. In of Canada’s most expensive real estate ma that makes getting a mortgage difficult.

“When you go to the bank, it’ll show tha are employed for eight months,” said Bose. you don’t know if you’ll be employed for the eight months after that.”

The solution for many sessionals is to on a full-time job at other colleges ar Vancouver in addition to their work at UB but that carries its own hardships. Acco to the university’s 2009 Workplace Exper Survey, obtained by The Ubyssey throu freedom of information request, almost thirds of contract lecturers said they stru to find a balance between work and life. (I 2011 and 2014 surveys, sessionals’ answers no longer grouped together).

“I have several colleagues who are teach class at UBC in the morning and having t it to Kwantlen in the evening, and in bet are going to teach a class at Langara in afternoon,” said Bose. “In practical terms, do you do your grading? On the bus?”

While sessionals are paid on contract, noted that many of them work beyond inhours to prepare for courses, meet with stu and keep up with research.

“When you’re not working, you’re act preparing,” she said. “It creates a lot of stres Eich said he could empathize.

“If someone was looking for certainty reliability, a sessional position … isn’t goi provide that, and that would provide a l uncertainty in your life, which is not pleas he said. “Hence, the primary reason t to move to the full-time lecturer positio response to that.”

‘SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS WITHIN ACADEMY’

While sessional lecturers often have the credentials as full-time faculty, their temp nature — and lack of contractual protecti means that they can feel underrepresented unheard within the university.

According to the 2009 survey, sess faculty are consistently the least co employment group at UBC. When asked if workplace was healthy and sustainable, on per cent of sessional faculty agreed, compar an overall average of 70 per cent — lower any other measured group. “‘Sessional’ has become a word that’s derogatory within the faculty,” said “They’re often treated as second-class cit within the academy.”

Bose emphasized that this phenomenon specific to UBC. Across schools, sessional tea often feel the nature of their contract affects they’re treated by peers and evaluators.

“They feel what is recognized is they’ve done wrong rather than what th

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done right,” she said. The 2009 survey noted that only 22 per cent of sessional faculty felt they were recognized for accomplishments at work, while a dismal 5 per cent believed promotions, transfers and appointments are made fairly at UBC. Bose said the stigma around contract faculty can even impact their credibility with university officials, even with something as simple as a letter of recommendation for a student.

“We have that stigma of quality from tenured faculty often in admissions committees,” she said. “If it’s a letter written by a sessional faculty member, it doesn’t count as much.”

Eich reiterated that while permanent faculty have more research and administrative duties, he understands the appeal of advancing one’s career and finding a “home” within a department.

“On one level, that’s all additional work, but it also makes you part of the whole social environment of being in a particular department, whatever it may be,” he said. “If you’re just teaching, say, one or two courses a year ... you’re going to miss that. You don’t feel like you’re part of a larger community.”

Sessionals seem to agree — just 10 per cent surveyed in 2009 felt they had sufficient opportunity for advancement in their careers at UBC.

NO END IN SIGHT And UBC is far from alone. Frustration over precarious working conditions boiled over last year in Ontario when faculty at dozens of colleges and universities went on strike, citing job security as a main concern.

Sessional faculty complained that despite contributing as much as 70 per cent of certain departments, they were underpaid, overworked and faced constant insecurity about whether they’d be guaranteed work.

Some sessional lecturers at UBC would like to follow suit — but since the collective agreement dictates resolutions be solved by binding arbitration, they aren’t allowed to strike. Even if they were, the university could easily terminate them at the end of their contracts without legal consequence.

Words by Jack Hauen and Zak Vescera Photo by Patrick Gillin “Sessional faculty do not feel that they are secure enough in their jobs to make complaints,” said Bose. “They don’t want to be seen as uncooperative members of the university community. So sometimes even legitimate grievances are blurred out.”

Similar frustrations are apparent at UBC — only 13 per cent believed they could achieve their long-term career objectives at UBC; less than a third would recommend UBC as a place to work and the same number believed their performance was assessed fairly. Most tellingly, only 28 per cent believed the administration would respond to the issues posed in the survey, signalling a crisis of confidence in the institution itself.

Under the collective bargaining agreement between UBC Faculty Association and the university, sessional lecturers have to be notified of full-time faculty appointments, but they don’t necessarily get preference over outside candidates.

“They’ll allow a sessional to teach for 15 years,” said Green, “But if the decision is made to convert those courses into a teaching stream position, they’ll throw the candidature out.”

WORKING ‘IN THE SHADOWS’ In addition to precarious pay, sessional lecturers are often cut out of benefits guaranteed to other staff.

According to the collective

agreement, staff are guaranteed pension benefits if they work for UBC for four consecutive months. This means sessionals working on a term-by-term basis don’t get benefits during the summer — even though they’re teaching the same amount of credits.

“If you teach six credits for the winter, you’re eligible for the full range of benefits including pension,” said Green. “If you teach no courses January to April and then teach six credits in the summer, you would get zero pension.”

Green said that after he raised a complaint, a mediator found that two back-to-back sessional contracts should be read as one continuous pay period, making summertime sessionals eligible for full benefits.

Afterwards, he said, UBC began to issue contracts that purposely put a few days of leave between the end of a sessional lecturer’s spring contract and the beginning of their summer one. Instead of viewing it as one continuous employment period from January to August, he said, it was broken in two — meaning sessionals don’t collect benefits in the summer term.

“If I teach exactly the same six courses in the summer, I get nothing — or I only get half of what I would normally get for pension contributions,” said Green.

“It can create lack of continuity in some of your benefit payments, your pension especially,” said Bose. “[My colleagues] feel that perhaps it’s another way in which they feel marginalized.”

Again, Eich can empathize.

“That’s another reason for going to the lecturer position, where then it’s seamless,” he said. “That would be irritating to lose your benefits.”

Bose noted that sessional lecturers can still collect some pension benefits while working in the summer, but to do so, they have to write post-dated cheques back to UBC, taking the needed amount out of their paycheques manually. The survey data indicates that many sessionals might not even know that was an option: only 34 per cent reported being aware of UBC’s provisions and benefits to support their personal needs.

For many sessionals, the inconsistent benefits are just another example of how they feel marginalized within the faculty association.

According to the 2009 survey, nearly four-fifths of sessional staff felt uninvolved in decisions that affected them.

“It’s two solitudes,” said

Green. “There are the regular faculty who have their own issues, and the sessionals who work in the shadows and live a completely different existence.”

NO SIMPLE SOLUTION So why do sessionals continue to teach at UBC? Many have family in the region, some are drawn to UBC’s marginally-better pay for contract faculty compared to other institutions and many are ultimately proud to be a part of the school.

“We’re proud of the job we do, we care deeply about the job that we do,” said Bose.

“There are just these very practical barriers to doing it.”

Eich emphasized that sessionals hadn’t fallen off UBC’s radar, mentioning the lectureship model again as a path forward.

“We don’t have a simple, easy solution to these things,” he said. “Going ahead with the lecturer position is clearly aimed toward this.

We’re cognizant, and we’re not just turning a blind eye to it.”

At the end of the day, Bose maintained her goal is to help her students — even when that’s easier said than done.

“I think one of the really difficult challenges for people in this position can be that they are in a position in which they want to inspire hope,” she said, “but they are hopeless themselves.” U

OPINIONS

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITOR EMMA HICKS

8

ADVICE //

STUDY ABROAD //

Their Campus: 18 hours of darkness in Norway Ask Pawan: How do I tell someone what I want in bed?

Katherine Robidoux Contributor

Imagine being mildly jet lagged.

Imagine the same dazed feeling you get when you drag yourself to your 10 a.m. class after moving the clocks ahead an hour in the spring and your professor mentions something about losing an hour of the weekend and you emerge from your state of being half-asleep. Now imagine this except this feeling never really goes away.

That’s what it’s like to live in Norway in the winter.

Before I left for my exchange, people kept telling me how dark and cold it will be in Norway. Oslo’s latitude is about 60 degrees north, a whole 10 degrees higher than Vancouver, which is easy to read on a map, but harder to really understand.

While the weather is not as cold as you’d expect, hovering around one degree below, the difference in daylight is clearly noticeable. When I first stepped off the plane in early January, it was around 3 p.m. and it was already dark. The sun was rising at around 9:30 a.m. and setting around 2:30 p.m. during my first week here, which definitely did not help with the time difference and general confusion that comes with moving your life across the Atlantic ocean.

The sun barely rose overhead and came out of the clouds at that. When it did, it was at that annoying eye level that’s killer without sunglasses.

Now, about a month later, I am already noticing a huge difference in daylight time — and the clocks have not even changed. The sun is now rising closer to 8:15 a.m. and setting at 4:45 p.m. Even though it’s just brighter for 10 minutes more every single day, it makes a big difference.

KATHERINE ROBIDOUX

“Norwegians embrace the winter season and all the darkness that it brings.”

So it really is like adjusting to living in a different time zone every single day. Relying on daylight for scheduling cues doesn’t work anymore — it’s too unpredictable. It’s very hard not to get sleepy when it gets dark so early and the sun never really comes out. I used to consider myself an afternoon person, but now I’m not really sure — with my messy student sleep schedule and strange new daylight cycles, I’m never sure what time of the day it is anymore.

A recent trip up north revealed that darkness in Oslo is really just an introduction. In Tromsø, a town in northern Norway above the Arctic Circle, at 69 degrees latitude, the day lasted just about four measly hours, and the “polar night” lasted the remaining twenty while I was there.

What I find most interesting though, is that instead of complaining about the weather

and the lack of sun as we do in gloomy “Raincouver,” Norwegians embrace the winter season and all the darkness that it brings.

People are out skiing, walking and jogging at all hours. Restaurants put out blankets and heat lamps on their patios and many cafes light their fireplaces to create a cozy atmosphere to enjoy a warm winter drink — Oslo is the unofficial capital of light roast coffee and Norway has one of the highest rates of coffee consumption in the world, so needless to say the choice of cafes here is next level.

As they say, “when in Rome, do as the Romans.” So, for the next five months I have decided to heed this piece of wisdom, disregard the clock, live on a flexible, caffeinated schedule and make the most of it — in sunlight or moonlight. U

PUBLIC CONSULTATION:

Enhancing student experience and housing in the University Boulevard area UBC is looking to add additional student and university housing, and academic sites, into the centre of campus.

We are seeking input on proposed sites near Brock Hall, Gage Towers, and Peter A. Allard School of Law.

Share your ideas online or in person F E B R UA RY 2 8 TO M A RC H 1 8 Online Survey:

planning.ubc.ca/uboulevard

Public Open Houses:

March 6, 4pm to 7pm | I.K. Barber Learning Centre, 2nd floor lobby March 8, 11am to 2pm | The Nest, lower level

Questions?

Contact Angelique Crowther, Specialist, Communications and Engagement at angelique.crowther@ubc.ca or 604 827 3896.

‘Yo bro, choke me a bit?’

Pawan Minhas Advice Columnist

February at UBC seems most aptly summed up in a single word: temptation. There’s the obvious high-key scouting for a Valentine’s Day date, but there are quite a few subtler allures.

Should you buy those postValentine’s clearance price chocolates? Surely you can splurge on an online midterm study guide, right? Can you dare trust the sunny forecast despite the fact that the Weather Channel is acting about as committed as a 2 a.m.

Tinder match?

If you’re looking for some guaranteed goodness to help balance out all these risks, The Ubyssey has the perfect publication for you: our annual Sex Issue! Packed with candid conversation and practical advice, the Sex Issue helps give a variety of personal perspectives on sex education because it’s your classmates talking about sex, not a poster in IKB. Check it out!

“Dear Pawan, This is awkward but how do I tell my boyfriend what I want in bed? Just say, ‘Yo bro, choke me a bit?’ Or like ‘I want to touch your butt more?’ I’m great at communication, as you can see.”

While our high school health classes may have taught us that communication in relationships, especially romantic ones, is important, the idea persists that talking about sex, specifically about sexual preferences, is something that is very taboo.

Shouldn’t the other person/ people just know?

Leaving sexual preferences as a grey area in a romantic relationship can be unsatisfying at best or potentially dangerous at worst, depending on what someone is or isn’t into. In your

FILE JOSHUA MEDICOFF

case, it seems like you’ve pinned some kinks that you want to introduce to your relationship, but it’s the matter of bringing up the subject that is giving you trouble.

When it comes to talking about anything of a sexual nature, I advise bringing it up in a neutral, non-sexual situation where you’re ensuring you’re able to get the point across of both preferences and boundaries.

It’s also important to take their opinion into account, both in terms of what they prefer as well as what they’re comfortable doing. Pressuring someone into experimentation has potential for both mental and physical pain, so try to keep your discussion flowing both ways.

Finally, if you’re uncomfortable with something your partner’s expressed interest in trying, that’s something that needs to be discussed ASAP, because that lack of cohesion could lead to bad experiences for everyone involved. Consent goes far beyond someone confirming that they want to have sex because, while sex can be a scientifically defined process, there remains a thousand attributes to what sex and sexual interaction means to any particular person.

These characteristics aren’t only that they want their partner to do one thing or another, but also that they have their own limits to what they’re willing to do in turn. While a person might be fine with pulling their partner’s hair, they might not be okay with choking them, and that’s something that, if talked about in a neutral and honest manner, can result in a high level of trust that keeps consent and mutual benefit at the forefront of any intimate interaction. U Need advice? Email in your questions anonymously to advice@ubyssey.ca or submit them through our website at ubyssey.ca/advice.

SCIENCE

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITOR NIVRETTA THATRA

9

NO IVORY TOWERS //

Bite-sized neuroscience videos bring ‘personality to lab coats’ Kristine Ho Senior Staff Writer

The problem: UBC has a lot of cool neuroscience research, but it’s hard to communicate science easily and effectively. The solution? Make neuroscience vids.

A group of UBC-ers are visiting labs and creating bite-sized neuroscience videos in order to break the traditional barriers of science communication and educate others in a fun and engaging way.

Brain Bytes is a science communication initiative that aims to bring neuroscience research from UBC to the public, breaching the obstacles that often exist between conducting science and communicating it to a general audience. A collaboration between UBC’s department of neuroscience and School of Journalism, the project is funded by UBC’s faculty of medicine, with a Graduate Student Initiative Fund from UBC’s department of neuroscience.

So far, the productions investigate topics such as the impact of cholesterol in Alzheimer’s disease, sex bias in research, postpartum depression in females and testosterone production in the brain.

DIGESTIBLE “BYTES” OF NEUROSCIENCE TO FEED EVERYONE’S KNOWLEDGE “We noticed that there was a problem in science communication,” said Michael Ruffolo. As the journalist for Brain Bytes and a recent graduate of UBC’s School of Journalism, Ruffolo is in charge of the production of the videos, including the interviewing, filming and editing of the series. “It’s tough to bridge the gap from peer-reviewed, academic work to, ‘Well, how does anyone who isn’t the author understand this work?’”

Executive producers Sonja Soo and Alyssa Ash, both UBC neuroscience students themselves, work to develop and coordinate the project. Their work includes recruiting scientists for filming, communicating with various neuroscience labs, providing editorial input and handling administrative processes.

They are joined by Stephanie Tran, who handles finances, budget management and liaising with contacts.

“Right now, how we currently oftentimes communicate science is through conferences, to other scientists, to people in our lab, people in our building,” said Soo. “So we want to reach a broader audience around the world through these videos, through these online platforms.

The project began as a “video abstract” idea that some academic journals have adopted, where research papers are accompanied by a video that conveys key information such as the main findings and methodology. These

video abstracts are meant to communicate science more easily and effectively. The idea for Brain Bytes then expanded to a movie format that encompassed the importance and relevance of research, with a greater focus on reaching out to the public.

The Brain Bytes videos, which run for about eight minutes, are meant to be easily digestible for the public. Posted across a variety of popular social media such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, as well as science-related outlets like the Centre for Brain Health, the online video format combats traditional barriers to communicating research, which is often restricted within the academic community.

“Another thing with science research that’s peer-reviewed is a lot of it isn’t accessible outside of the university bubble due to access to journals that are paywalled,” explained Ash. “A lot of people can’t get to scientific findings and so it’s a nice way to break through that and make things out in the open.”

She added that open science communication not only informs the general public, but can also bridge the gap between scientific departments and even disciplines within departments. “There’s a lot of different sub-disciplines under our umbrella of neuroscience that we don’t really know what’s going in other departments and other labs, so it’s a way to really branch across and get people to know what’s going on in other parts of their department.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE COMMUNICATION The Brain Bytes team stressed the importance of science communication, the main purpose of their project, which Soo described as having multifold benefits.

“First it helps public perception of science — what people think of us as scientists and what we do,” Soo said. “It’s also important to educate the public about how science is conducted and how we follow the scientific method, how we produce data and how it is reproducible and how we get reliable data.”

The team elaborated on the importance of science communication in the public funding of science. This is particularly important in recent times as the public funding of science, and especially the funding of basic research, has decreased over the past decade in Canada.

Unlike applied research, where research is applied to situations to solve problems directly, the aim of basic research is often to develop or improve scientific theories to better understand and predict natural occurrences. Applied research in medicine, for example, might investigate how certain drugs affect the brain to reduce anxiety, while basic research in the same area might instead explore how the brain itself functions.

The Canadian government supplies public funding for research primarily through the Tri-Council Agency, which consists of three branches known as CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research), NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council).

“Without that funding, labs can’t run properly and they can’t have enough research going on so it would limit the potential for discoveries,” Ash explained. “You need this funding to come in to enable that and so it’s just really important for the whole field.”

The Naylor Report, a 2017 report that reviews Canada’s

federal funding of science, advocates for increased public funding of science and has demonstrated that the total grant funding per researcher has continued to decrease since 2010.

Referring to Brain Bytes’ second video, which explores postpartum depression in the maternal brain of rats, Ash explained that basic research conducted on animals could yield later benefits to humans.

“Indirectly, we want to promote the research here at UBC and raise the awareness of how even something basic with a rodent model could be applied to humans down the line.”

There has been movement in the scientific community to combat this decrease in public funding of science in Canada, especially for the 2018 budget year.

The Naylor Report has its own #supporthereport movement from scientists on social media. And of course there is Brain Bytes, which aims to bring basic neuroscience research to a general audience as well.

“Basically the whole idea behind Brain Bytes is a platform for us to communicate science to people, but also for them to start a conversation with people [and] the public too,” Soo said. “Because we put [the videos] on platforms that are easy to communicate [with] like Youtube, people can comment, we can see their feedback and we can also see what their perceptions of science, of us are, and for us to see the values of science in public.”

BEHIND THE SCENES OF A BRAIN BYTES VIDEO The typical process for creating a video begins with recruiting interviewees. Ash and Soo handle this step by searching

The Brain Bytes team, from left to right: Alyssa Ash, Sonja Soo, Michael Ruffolo and Stephanie Tran

for researchers, screening for relevance and ensuring the researcher’s study can be conveyed in a video format.

The researchers interviewed are UBC’s neuroscience graduate students who have published peer-reviewed journal papers in the past year or so. “It’s usually great for them because it’s something they can show on their CV, and just being able to learn how to communicate their work is also another skill they develop as they work through the video,” Soo explained.

After obtaining consent to shoot the video, Ruffolo first meets the interviewee for a pre-filming interview in order to understand their research and brief them on filming process.

Ruffolo then uses the discussion from this pre-interview to conduct further research on the topic, formulate interview questions and identify talking points before the shoot.

The next step, shooting the video, usually spans one day and involves filming, interviewing and taking over a lab section to record the machines, techniques and devices that are used in the neuroscience lab. Post-filming, Ruffolo spends four to five days editing before the videos are released through multiple social media channels.

“You can see the actual equipment they use, you can see the scientists… it brings it to life.

It brings some personality to lab coats,” Ruffolo said.

Future plans of the project include more videos and potentially bringing the initiative to different departments outside of neuroscience, in addition to possibly creating a supplementary podcast with extra content from the interviews that could not be included in the final videos. U

COURTESY BRAIN BYTES

SPORTS+REC

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY

EDITOR LUCY FOX

10

PLAYOFF RUNDOWN Who’s in

After series sweep of Bisons, men’s volleyball head to next playoff round Elizabeth Wang Staff Writer

The cold weather on Friday didn’t stop the Thunderbirds, who were on fire in their second match against the Manitoba Bisons at War Memorial Gym. Unlike the game on Thursday, the Thunderbirds took down the visiting Bisons in only three sets with scores of of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-15.

The victory guarantees the T-Birds a spot in the Canada West semifinals starting March 2.

For the T-Birds, their quarterfinal against the Bisons may have been good practice for what’s to come in playoffs, as the tight defensive wall set up by the Bisons was hard to get by all weekend.

Although UBC jumped out to an early 10-6 lead, the Bisons quickly caught up within two points with strong blocks at the net. But the T-Birds were able to take advantage of their excellent service and launched an incredible eight-point run which put them comfortably in control.

The T-Birds Team Captain Irvan Brar put up three aces in a row which boosted the momentum of the ’Birds and helped them claim the frame at 25-20.

“We go out there and expect to serve aggressively all the time,” said Brar about the team’s serving game. “It’s kind of cool because our coach gives us the green light.

He’s like, ‘go and hit your serve, you don’t really have to care about errors.’”

“It’s been definitely a part of our identity ... the strength of our serving,” UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald said.

Not only did they manage to command the serving, but the T-Birds also found a way to break though the defence of the Bisons

in the second set. Clean execution of their game plan kept the team focused and in system for the night. With fewer errors and a higher hitting percentage than Manitoba, the ’Birds put up their game high 17 kills. Together, UBC finished the set ahead 25-17.

“We definitely addressed last night and this morning in video that we need to manage the ball a little bit better when we weren’t in good situations, and make less attack errors. I feel like we dialled in a lot better on our game plan,” UBC head coach Kerry MacDonald said. “We were able to neutralize their offence a lot better tonight than we did last night.”

Having found their rhythm in the second set, the Thunderbirds started to put on a show in the third frame. Veteran setter Byron Keturakis contributed seven out of eight service aces, which helped the T-Birds to a sixpoint run and to settle a lead at 10-4, which they only expanded through the end of play to 25-15.

Together, the T-Birds put up 16 aces, 40 kills and 22 digs on the night.

When asked about the team mentality entering into the semifinals, MacDonald said the team is excited to face some greater challenges.

“We are looking forward to playing a strong opponent in either Alberta or Calgary. They’re both great teams, both really well-coached. We get the luxury now of sitting back and watching tomorrow and potentially the next day and seeing who we end up getting, and we’ll start preparing for them at that point.” U UBC will face the Alberta Golden Bears in the semifinals starting on Friday, March 2. The series will be played at War Memorial Gym.

BASKETBALL After hitting a high two weeks ago against the Manitoba Bisons, this weekend the men’s basketball team hit a tough low. After a blowout loss against the Calgary Dinos on Thursday night, the ’Birds headed home empty-handed after a narrow 87-84 loss on Friday.

It was a close game on all counts too.

In the end, it all came down to two differences to split the hairs: two sunk free throws for the Dinos and a missed three-pointer for UBC. The women, on the other

Serving supremacy sends women’s volleyball to Canada West semis Lucy Fox Sports Editor

In a weekend that saw several Thunderbird teams bow out of playoffs on the road, War Memorial Gym was one place that saw success for UBC’s teams. With the men’s volleyball team kicking off the weekend with a two-game sweep over the Manitoba Bisons, the women closed out volleyball’s domination with a sweep of their own over the Regina Cougars.

After a 3-1 win on Friday night, the women’s side did one better with a three-set domination on Saturday.

What’s more — it was a marked improvement performance-wise, something that will benefit the team going forward through the playoffs.

“I think first round of the quarterfinals is never perfect and it’s kind of where you get all your jitters out so I think we did that [on the] first night,” UBC captain and fifth-year Alessandra Gentile said of the team’s start to the weekend.

Similar to Friday, Regina burst onto the scene with a quick 6-0 lead in the first set. Ashlee Sandiford would go on a seven serve-run for the visitors, before UBC joined in on the scoring action. With Ciara Hanly finally getting the T-Birds on the board, a string of services from Olivia Furlan and Anna Price would

Keith West finishes a play for UBC.

Who’s out

bring the home team on par and then ahead by one point midway through the set. With two straight aces from Price in the home stretch, UBC would get to match point with a seven-point advantage over the Cougars, taking the 25-17 set win with a Kiera Van Ryk kill.

“I think it all starts from the service line; we had some people serve really well, the obvious one [being] Olivia [Furlan] … she took over that first set … and not just the aces but other people served the ball well enough to get them out of system and that limited Regina’s ability to run their offence,” UBC head coach Doug Reimer said.

Going into the second frame, Regina’s desperation started to set into their game. On the other side of the court, UBC looked like they had honed in on their own system, with Hanly and Gentile taking control over the net with strong blocks. A relatively easy set for the ’Birds gave bench players a chance to get involved, as Siobhan Finan and Danae Shephard were called into action. Finan would even get the final block of the set, giving UBC a two-set lead with a score of 25-14.

UBC would claim the final frame by 25-14 once again, with Furlan ending her stunning night with the last kill of the evening.

ELIZABETH WANG

Writing by Lucy Fox & Liam Fisher; Photos by Patrick Gillin & David Moll

hand, bowed out of playoffs in the quarterfinals after two losses to the Regina Cougars in Saskatchewan. With an 85-70 loss on Thursday, February 15, the team ended their season with a final 71-62 blow on February 16.

The second-year would claim nine kills and seven services aces overall throughout the 3-0 sweep of the Bisons. Price and Van Ryk also had notable nights on court, with nine and eight kills respectively.

With the win, UBC moves on to face the UBC Okanagan Heat at home starting on Friday, March 2 for the Canada West semifinals.

The two teams — currently ranked second and third in Canada West — haven’t faced each other since the first weekend of the regular season.

With that comes its own challenges as neither team has had their sights on the other since 2017.

“All those teams in BC like Trinity [Western] and UBCO ….

We’re always really excited to come to play them, so it’ll be a good match. And they’re a big team too right, so it’ll be exciting to see what happens,” Gentile said of the upcoming match up.

“What’s interesting about that semifinal match up is that was our first weekend of league play. So, to be honest, I haven’t watched them or prepared for them because this weekend was obviously the critical one ….

But they’ve got a physical team, experienced team, it’s going to be much different,” Reimer said of their next opponent. U — with files from Zak Vescera

Furlan sends the ball through Regina’s front row.

PATRICK GILLIN

HOCKEY

The Thunderbirds’ hockey program was seeing double over reading week as both teams ended their seasons early after two tough weekends of playoff games.

For the men’s side, it came at the hands of the Calgary Dinos in the quarterfinals. Playing out a full

three game series, the team faced a tough 4-2 defeat in the final match to end their year.

For the women’s side, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies eliminated them from Canada West contention on Saturday — sweeping the semifinal series 2-0.

The second-round matchup, after UBC defeated Mount Royal twice in overtime in the quarterfinals, was the battle of the third and second seeds, with Saskatchewan having home-ice advantage.

FEBRUARY 27, 2018 TUESDAY | SPORTS+REC | 11

Thunderbirds continue U Sports reign with second straight national titles Salomon Micko Benrimoh Staff Writer

The Thunderbirds were faced with some of the toughest competition they’ve had in years this past weekend at the U Sports swimming championships at the University of Toronto. Strong performances from the Université de Montreal Carabins and hosts University of Toronto Varsity Blues challenged the ’Birds for both the men’s and women’s titles — but UBC still came out on top.

Despite the best efforts of their Eastern rivals, it would be UBC who finished on top with 1,151.5 points on the men’s side and a whopping 1,362.5 points on the women’s side — both over 200 points ahead of their closest competition.

If UBC were to dominate the championships like they did last year, they would have to come up big in certain events where they were the underdogs. They started by doing just that, with Maia Brundage and Erika SeltenreichHodgson taking second and third in the women’s 200 metre freestyle. The two veteran ’Birds edged out favourite Katerine Savard of the Carabins in one of her main events — Savard was part of the Olympic bronze medal-winning 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay in Rio.

On the men’s side, Markus Thormeyer and Yuri Kisil easily beat out the competition to take first and second respectively in the 200 metre freestyle event.

Thormeyer clocked in at 1:43.78, knocking on the door of Varsity Blues alumnus Colin Russell’s decade-old U Sports record.

The next big win for the Thunderbirds came in the men’s 100 metre butterfly where UBC newcomer Josiah Binnema won in a time of 52.13, holding off challenges from Gamal Assaad of the University of Western Ontario Mustangs and fellow Thunderbird Luke Peddie.

Emily Overholt and SeltenreichHodgson took first and second in the women’s 400 metre individual medley, with Brundage coming in not far behind at fourth to continue racking up points for the Thunderbirds.

By the end of the first day of competition, both the men’s and women’s teams were ahead in the points ranking.

Continuing their dominating weekend, UBC had a strong performance in the women’s 100 metre backstroke. While Kylie Masse — Olympic medalist and world record holder in this event — won easily with a new U Sports record time of 56.38, UBC’s Ingrid Wilm was able to secure a spot

on the podium by finishing third in a time of 58.57. In the men’s 50 metre butterfly shortly after, Luke Peddie just edged out Samuel Wang of McGill University by 0.07 of a second to take first.

Jonathan Brown then put UBC back on the podium for a men’s breaststroke event for the first time in a while by taking third in men’s 200 metre event. As for the 50 metre breaststroke, it was UBC’s Warren Mayer who came out on top in a time of 27.58, just beating favourite Eli Wall of the Varsity Blues by a mere 0.08 of a second.

Yuri Kisil kept the ball rolling for the ’Birds as he won the men’s 50 metre freestyle event in a new U Sports record time of 21.50, beating his own previously held record of 21.69 that he had set in preliminaries.

But it was in the relay events where UBC scored big, taking first place in every men’s relay and a podium finish in every women’s relay. The ’Birds may not have dominated the individual events like they did last year, but they cleaned up the relays which was more than enough to seal the win and let both the men’s and women’s teams retain their national titles.

They continue to reign supreme over Canadian university swimming. U

Who won

UBC celebrates their championship win.

ams.ubc.ca/elections

MARTIN BAZYL/ TORONTO VARSITY BLUES

12 | GAMES | TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2018

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