January 22, 2019

january 22, 2019 | VoLuME c | IssuE XX non-essential since 1918

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news

Culture

SCIENCE

SPORTS

Over 1,000 march on Vancouver for women’s rights

blog

Lion in the Streets is raw and realistic

I love you, The Cairn

1998 finding yields new cancer treatment

An ode to Winter Classic

THE UBYSSEY

Is UBC a diplomat?

// 08of diplomacy — and UBC is leading the way Universities are expanding the definition

//07

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january 22, 2019 TUesday

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

2

WOMEN’S MARCH 2019

wednesday, JANUARY 23 HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE 6 p.m. @ CiTR RADIO (in the NEST) Part of the Indigenous Film Screening Series presented by CiTR and Filmsoc !

FREE

thurSday, January 24 A CONVERSATION WITH DAVID EBY 5:30 TO 7 P.M. @ ALLARD SCHOOL OF LAW Join the BC Attorney General and MLA for UBC’s riding.

FREE

friday, JANUARY 25 mental health awareness HOCKEY game 7 P.M. @ doug mitchell sports centre Wear green to support mental health awareness! $5 with UBC Student CARD

ON THE COVER COVER BY Ella Chan

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

U The Ubyssey

editorial

Business Manager Coordinating Editor Illustrations Editor Douglas Baird Samantha McCabe Ella Chan coordinating@ubyssey.ca illustrations@ubyssey.ca business@ubyssey.ca Visuals Editor Claire Lloyd visuals@ubyssey.ca News Editors Alex Nguyen & Zak Vescera news@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Bridget Chase culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Lucy Fox sports@ubyssey.ca Video Producer Marina McDuff video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Tristan Wheeler opinion@ubyssey.ca Science Editor James Vogl science@ubyssey.ca Photo Editor Elizabeth Wang photos@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Moira Wyton features@ubyssey.ca

january 22, 2019 | Volume C| Issue XX Contact

BUSINESs

Staff Pawan Minhas, Zubair Hirji, Jack Yuan, Emma Livingstone, Jane Procyshyn, Matt Asuncion, Olivia Johnson, Candice Lipski, Marissa Birnie, Rolando Hinojosa, Lua Presidio, Salomon Micko Benrimoh, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Ryan Neale, Hannah Feodorov, Angela O’Donnell, Cat Hartt Towle, Johann Cooper, Jack Lamming, Kristine Ho, Clare Skillman, Zainab Fatima, Iain Coates, Charlotte Alben, Riya Talitha, Chelsea Dumasal, Joshua Azizi, Sammy Smart, Danni Olusanya, Shamit Rahman, Divija Madhani, Moe Kirkpatrick, Daphnée Lévesque, Benoit Dupras, Sonia Kung, Scott Young, Eve O’Dea, Andrew Ha, Anupriya Dasgupta, Aki Ota, Amy Shandro, Henry Anderson, Micah Killjoy, Sonia Pathak, Maged, Brendan Smith, Mitchell Ballachay, Negin Nia, Sarah Zhao

Web Developer Rowan Baker-French rowan@ubyssey.ca

Account Manager Adam McQueen adam@ubyssey.ca

Web Developer Jamie Lee jamie@ubyssey.ca

Senior Web Developer Atsushi Yamamoto atsushi@ubyssey.ca

President Ben Amuwo president@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.

The Ubyssey is a founding member of Canadian University Press (CUP) and adheres to CUP’s guiding principles.

The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related

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.

Submissions may be sent by email to opinion@ubyssey.ca.

Please include your student number or other proof of identification. Anonymous submissions will be accepted on extremely rare occasions. Requests for anonymity will be granted upon agreement from four fifths of the

Editorial Office: SUB 2208 604.283.2023 Business Office: SUB 2209 604.283.2024 NEST 6133 University Boulevard Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Online: ubyssey.ca Twitter: @ubyssey Snapchat: theubyssey editorial board. Full opinions policy may be found at ubyssey.ca/ submit-an-opinion It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ads.

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.

Photos by Salomon Micko Benrimoh, Ryan Neale, Isabella Falsetti, Shamit Rahman, Annie Reuter and Sophie Galloway

NEWS

january 22, 2019 tuESday

Editors Alex Nguyen + Zak Vescera

3

looking inward //

Vancouver Women’s March brings resistance home

Salomon micko benrimoh

“Organizing ourselves has never been anything else but loving each other.”

Alex Nguyen & Moira Wyton News & Features Editors

“No consent, no pipeline!” the crowd chanted as it packed the square in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Two years after the first march in response to Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Women’s March in Vancouver remains part of a global movement — but has now shifted its focus inwards to Canada.

Speakers opened the rally by discussing intersectional issues ranging from the environment to Indigenous rights to violence against women of different backgrounds and abilities.

An hour later, the march’s more than 1,000 attendees poured into the streets of downtown

Vancouver. Ahead of the sea of people, the Daughters of the Drum — a Vancouver-based collective of primarily Indigenous women drummers, singers and musicians — led the way toward the Robson Square Law Courts.

Instead of marching past Trump Tower like previous years, the rally put the spotlight on Canadian institutions and injustices.

“This year, we’re like, ‘Okay, we’ve got a lot of issues in Canada, even in Vancouver, that we need to highlight, and so let’s just do something that symbolizes the issues for Canadians,’” said March On Vancouver organizer Samantha Monckton.

Speakers similarly emphasized holding Canadian provincial and

federal governments accountable on environmental and Indigenous rights, highlighting how these issues are deeply intertwined with the rights of women.

In particular, they referenced the arrest of members of the Wet’suwet’en nation in northern BC while blocking the building of a pipeline on their territory.

“Reconciliation is about giving back what was taken ... we are not owners of the land, we are there to take care of the land,” said hip-hop artist JB the First Lady, a member of the Nuxalk and Onondaga Nations. She ended her speech with a performance of “The Most Unprotected Girl,” a song about Mother Earth that is also a tribute to the strength of Indigenous women and girls.

The Great Trek lives on A strong presence of UBC students attended in solidarity.

Neha Tadepalli, president of AMS Equal Voice UBC — a club that works to increase representation of women and marginalized groups in Canadian politics — organized a presence of 15 students.

For her, the pivot to Canadian issues recognized how past Women’s Marches came under scrutiny for not including a diverse array of voices. “[Canada has] a problem with comparison [to the United States] — that we’re doing better, doing fine … when really, we’re just an isolated country, and we

have many issues within our own borders,” said Tadepalli. “Doing a solidarity march with people [in the United States], it’s ... a way that we can start to reflect on our own issues.”

Many UBC students shared the same frustration.

Renee, a student in UBC’s Humanities 101 community program, marched with her 12-yearold daughter because she feels things are moving “backwards.”

“I would like to see change in how we do things for her ... When she’s 22, I don’t want to see this shit.”

Max Kittner, a second-year arts student from the United States, hopes students will see the need to mobilize for what they believe in.

“A lot of the issues that were raised are really, really important to continue protesting year after year,” said Kittner. “Social media only goes so far — you have to get out on the streets at some point.”

From the street to the ballot Monckton hopes that attendees will continue amplifying the spirit of the march through civic engagement, especially with a federal election coming later this year.

“We should encourage more women to run, we should definitely encourage more people to vote and hopefully the issues that are going to be discussed will resonate with people when they go to vote,” said Monckton.

“That’s what the whole point of Law Courts.”

Young speakers echoed the significance of demonstrations like these, in addition to voting and direct action, in building community and momentum for change.

“Organizing ourselves has never been anything else but loving each other,” said UBC alumna Mitra Kazemi. U

JB the First Lady performing “The Most Unprotected Girl.”

Salomon micko benrimoh

CLEANBC //

Campus climate action group calls on UBC to take proactive role in new BC climate plan Moira Wyton Features Editor

UBC and student groups want the university to play a central role in the realization of BC’s new climate action plan, but they disagree on how far it should go.

The CleanBC plan, which was announced last month, aims to reduce pollution from energy consumption in the province and diversify the economy towards “greener” industries.

UBCC350, a student-led climate action group, is excited about the roadmap the plan lays out for climate leadership in BC. “[W]e were extremely thrilled that our province is finally one step closer to a clean energy future we envisaged last year [at our panel],” the collective wrote in a statement to The Ubyssey.

“It is delightful to see new exciting visions, serious commitments, and increased ambition on climate actions presented in this long-awaited plan.”

The university also sees it as an opportunity to lead the way.

“Public sector organizations (PSOs) have been pretty essential in all the climate plans, including this one,” said Dr. James Tansey,

The university sees the plan as an opportunity to lead the way.

executive director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative (SI). He noted that the university is at an advantage because it manages its own resources, permitting processes and urban planning.

“UBC has this great opportunity here as a living laboratory to provide leadership in the province.”

A complimentary CleanBC Labour Readiness Plan will be prepared in consultation with UBC and other post-secondary schools to meet the labour needs to execute CleanBC.

Tansey believes UBC is on the right track because it is already carbon neutral — like all PSOs in BC — and is aiming to reduce its emissions by an additional 33 per cent by 2030.

UBC is also engaging students through the Climate Hub, a collective of student groups and initiatives around sustainability, and the Sustainability Initiative.

The university is also considering creating a sustainability certificate program for students to complete alongside their regular degree programs.

FILE ZUBAIR HIRJI

“We have a big review process at the moment with the SI at the moment, and one of the recommendations that we really build on the opportunity to student to undertake projects, thesis work and internships around these goals,” said Tansey.

But UBCC350 wants the university to go further than what the plan calls for by divesting from fossil fuels — and phasing out curricula related to extractive industries. In particular, fossil fuel divestment has been a longstanding goal of the group whose previous

efforts led to the creation of the $10 million Sustainable Futures Fund, a fossil fuel-free investment option.

Tansey sees this goal as part of a much longer conversation.

“I don’t think you can achieve sustainability in the long run without also getting off fossil fuels,” he said, noting that if UBC immediately divested from fossil fuels, many essential functions would cease.

“I think you have to also recognize that there’s a transition where cleaner fossil fuels like natural gas are going to have a role to play in the next 10 to 20 years [and] that we should get off the dirtiest and worse fuels as quickly as we can.”

Ultimately, UBCC350 sees the plan as an opportunity to reevaluate the priorities of the university and the province regarding climate change. “[W]e especially celebrate government’s recognition that a just climate transition is not a burden to the economy, but a tremendous opportunity for a much better, sustainable, and healthy economy,” they wrote.

“This sends a clear message: people power, rather than corporate domination, is required for a successful transition.” U

4 | News | tuEsDAY january 22, 2019 governance //

What’s wrong with the Wall Institute?

“They didn’t have a vote, but they participated in all the discussions,” he said. “They have this institutional memory that is really instrumental to move the Institute forward. A lot of us feel recently that their experience has been disregarded.”

What is the Wall Institute?

“The private sector is doing its best to infiltrate the university, and the university is doing its best to infiltrate society.”

Zak Vescera News Editor

What happens when a legendary real estate magnate inserts his money — and his family — into the world of academia?

Former directors and faculty say the crisis at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) reflects a trend of conflict as the university and the donor family grapple over the institute’s mandate, direction and independence.

In November, PWIAS director Dr. Philippe Tortell resigned in protest over a directive that would have hitched the institute’s research to existing pools of UBC funding, ending its independence.

The changes were quickly backpedaled as hundreds of faculty complained. On December 12, UBC Vancouver’s Senate ordered an external review of the institute with “an explicit mandate to investigate and make recommendations on the Institute’s structure and governance” — what many scholars say is at the heart of the problem.

“The Wall family has been very generous, the university has been very grateful,” said Dr. Olav Slaymaker, PWIAS director from 2004-2005 and a long-time Wall Scholar. “But the aims of the two parties are not necessarily the same.”

Peter Wall’s gift In 1991, real estate tycoon Peter Wall donated $15.2 million to UBC. It was — and still is — the largest single private donation in the history of the university.

There was a catch: two members of the Wall family would always be represented on the Wall Institute Board of

Trustees, the body that oversees the Institute. The chair would be UBC’s president.

Then-UBC President Dr. David Strangway was happy to take the money. But from the start, there were disagreements about who was in charge.

“David Strangway and Peter Wall had huge debates and discussions at the time of initiation,” said Slaymaker. “To his credit, David Strangway insisted that young scholars were the more important element.

Peter Wall’s side was to go for more established Nobel Prize winners. ... That was the first signal of potentially conflicting motivations.”

Two directors and multiple faculty said these conflicts — sometimes minor, sometimes significant — made running the Institute a delicate game.

Counting Tortell, the PWIAS has gone through four directors in as many years.

“Eventually that [conflict] leads to major crises in which basically the people who are directing the institute feel that their capacity to run the academic side of things was curved,” said former interim Director Dr. Gaston Gordillo. “In this case quite dramatically.”

The last director to serve more than one year was Dr. Janis Sarra, who left the role in 2014. She declined to be interviewed.

After 2014, changes were made to the Board, partially to prevent another sudden departure.

UBC President Stephen Toope yielded his seat as chair to thenDean of Science Dr. Simon Peacock, and two faculty representatives were added to the Board in an attempt to even out the power.

The changes didn’t stick.

After a whirlwind of different presidents coming into power

after former President Arvind Gupta was forced to resign, current President Santa Ono became PWIAS chair.

Not all directors agree there’s a problem. Dr. Dianne Newell, who served as director from 2003 to 2011, was not available for an interview but wrote in an email to The Ubyssey that she experienced no troubles in her time as director.

Tortell said that he was not aware of a conflict between the university representatives and the Wall family, but added he was not privy to many of those conversations.

Gordillo shared the sentiment.

“I’m not saying the Wall family should not have a say. But there are occasions where you see either the university or the Wall family going beyond what is expected of them and trying to shape the direction of the institute in ways that are perhaps not entirely appropriate.”

In a statement to The Ubyssey, the Board did not address these concerns.

“The Board works in a highly collaborative way to set a shared vision that will support the work of the PWIAS scholars and staff, and does not speak to internal conversations of the Board,” reads the statement.

Zubair Hirji

that directors were not privy to.

Slaymaker also alleged that Board members met on a more informal basis outside of formal meetings.

“In each of the crises that one hears about and that I’ve been involved with, [they] have to do with meetings that occur in-between regularly announced meetings,” said Slaymaker.

These meetings mean that even the Institute’s director is not fully privy to how the Board operates.

“I’m not aware that there were any significant disagreements between the two university trustees and the family,” said Tortell. “But a lot of those discussions happened when I was not around.”

The directive that prompted Tortell’s resignation came after a closed meeting where both he and the Institute’s two distinguished scholars were barred from attendance. Gordillo says that was unheard of during his time as director.

“The Wall Institute’s recurring problems could indeed flow from basic design flaws in structure and governance,” said Dr. Philip Loewen at the December 12 Senate meeting.

Scholars hope that the external review’s recommendations will change the way the Board of Trustees operates or even how it is composed.

Beyond ending “green room activity,” all former directors hope that the institute’s distinguished scholars — Dr. Derek Gregory and Dr. Brett Finlay — will lead the Institute’s restructuring.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the best idea to have the President as the chair of the Board,” said Tortell.

“For one thing, he’s extremely busy, and it’s not clear he has the time to give the Board the duties and attention that it requires.”

Tortell said that as the Wall family is still the largest donor in the university’s history, the President is “not exactly independent” from them.

Tortell also recommended expanding the size of the Board by adding scholars separate from UBC, a common feature on other boards of advanced studies institutes like Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study.

In many ways, former directors see the institute as a bit of a paradox — a public institute, privately funded, yet not part of either world.

“I think it’s quite obvious that the university has been trying to develop some way of dealing with the private sector and it has not, in the past two decades, been a total successful experience,” said Slaymaker.

“The private sector is doing its best to infiltrate the university, and the university is doing its best to infiltrate society.” U

Green room activity Beyond disputes over the Institute’s direction — like whether to incorporate it under existing research clusters — directors and faculty described a secretive atmosphere where the actual faculty members were often kept in the dark about major decisions.

Gordillo, Slaymaker and Tortell all pointed out that members of the Board held in camera meetings

Dr. Raphael Amit, Peter Wall and Dr. Michael Smith.

Courtesy pwias

CULTURE

january 22, 2019 tuEsday

Editor Bridget Chase

5

culture is cool, kids //

Letter from the Editor: Step out of your cultural comfort zone in 2019 Bridget Chase Culture Editor

Vancouver, like any good bustling metropolis, has a number of nicknames: Raincouver, Hollywood North and Vansterdam, to name a few. But perhaps one of the most pervasive and discouraging misnomers tacked onto Vancouver is “No Fun City.”

Where exactly the name came from, I’m not sure. But this reputation is visible across the web, with one article going as far as calling Vancouver a “black hole of boring.” Now, I’m by no means a Vancouver-apologist. In terms of the “fun” scene in the city, there are obvious entertainment gaps and well-loved venues have been closing down left and right. We’ve all had less-thanmemorable Saturday nights watching Netflix reruns, groaning about how there is nothing else to do.

That said, for the start of term two, I issue UBC students a challenge: get cultured.

Now before you get up in arms, don’t worry. I’m not suggesting that you are ignorant or lacking taste. But what I am saying is that Vancouver — UBC specifically — has a treasure trove of arts and culture happening around us, and unfortunately a lot of students aren’t taking advantage of it.

This isn’t because we don’t care about the arts, but more often than not because we were never introduced to the sweet, sweet possibilities.

Perhaps you’re one of the many people on campus who doesn’t see the appeal — you’ve never been an “artsy” person.

Let’s get real, I know many students may prefer to spend

their Friday nights and hardearned paycheques at a pub. Hell, you’ll probably see me there, too! But after knocking back a couple of pints, stumble your way down to the Chan Centre and catch a world-class show for only $15. That’s a beer and a half at Koerner’s, and I promise that you’re going to feel so much cooler listening to jazz with a buzz. Plus, don’t forget that you can buy drinks at the theatre!

Decide to enjoy your newfound freedom and get baked outside your dorm one lazy Sunday afternoon? Some of the exhibits at the Museum of Anthropology feel practically hallucinatory by themselves, and I’m sure they’ll be even more enjoyable now that you’re feeling colours. And even if you aren’t interested in enhancing your artistic experience with substances, you will probably still soberly enjoy watching your fellow students perform their hearts out on stage with UBC Theatre.

I know what you may be thinking: art is intimidating.

Don’t be embarrassed, as the culture editor — the de facto ‘expert’ on the arts at UBC — I’m here to tell you that you’re not wrong. There have been many a time that I’ve gone to a play, checked out an exhibit or attended a performance and thought: what the literal fuck is happening? Art, especially highbrow art, can be confusing, vague and lacking the context that allows viewers without a breadth of background knowledge to understand what it really means.

This can turn people off from taking part in it.

This truth is, this is all a trap.

Don’t let hoity-toity artists and their

The more art I consume, the more I have realized that you don’t need to understand art to enjoy it.

fancy explanations littered with academic jargon and Olde English trick you into thinking that you can’t go and enjoy whatever they’re offering. The more art I consume, the more I have realized that you don’t need to always understand art to enjoy it. Often, the experience alone is worth the time and money, and you don’t need expertise to

look at something and say, “I like that!” or, “Not my cup of tea.” Plus, the more you consume, the more you tend to understand. There is something a little different available for everyone.

So next time there is a worldrenowned bagpipe player taking stage, or UBC Theatre is putting on something by Shakespeare,

FILE KAI JACOBSON

don’t shy away. Even if you leave not totally satisfied with your experience, at least you’ll be able to say that you tried it. Take advantage of your student ticket pricing and spend an evening getting cultured. I’m sure you won’t regret it… but if you do, don’t come looking to me for a refund. U

the more you know //

Panel helps students recognize impacts of overseas “voluntourism”

FILE THE UBYSSEY

While many of these institutions work with charity organizations and give donations, they are first and foremost a business.

Aki Ota Staff Writer

Should all volunteer activities that exist around the world really be called volunteering? The term “voluntourism” is casting doubt

on the concept of volunteering today and questioning the way that institutions are “helping” countries, many of them within Africa.

“Voluntourism in Africa: Critiques, Complexities, and Alternative,” presented by UBC’s International

Relations Student Association (IRSA), Africa Awareness Initiative and Africa Business Club, considered what actions and approaches people should take in terms of volunteering.

“When we started organizing the event, what we really wanted to

show students is how voluntourism is perpetuated in universities.

We felt that by having all of these panelists, they will provide the students with more information on how to combat this,” said Kamal Mudher, co-president of the UBC Africa Business Club.

During the panel discussion, four speakers provided the audience with an abundance of eye-opening information.

Panelists discussed how voluntourism is an “economic activity.” Many organizations are for social enterprise, meaning that they intend to make a profit. While many of these institutions work with charity organizations and give donations, they are first and foremost businesses.

Dr. Kofi Gbolonyo — who teaches African music at UBC — raised awareness about the fact that people of all ages participate in voluntourism. “Voluntourism is not just about the young people.

Some professionals do [it too.]”

Gbolonyo argued that when educated adults support this system, the impact can be massive.

Mentioning the voluntourism activities that exist in some UBC programs which send students overseas, a student who attended the

event, Steven Zhang, asked about UBC’s responsibility to eliminate these problematic programs.

One panelist explained that making radical changes within an established organization is difficult, but students can decide not to participate and instead continue to learn and spread knowledge about the topic.

UBC Africa Awareness Initiative President Xiluva Hill commented that “ ... It’s important for students to think about their impact on the world. … We also engage with developing communities, alleging that we are helping them, so it is good that all UBC students think critically about these things.”

Katja Sluga, an executive in the IRSA, strongly emphasized the importance of education on this topic. She hoped this event would be a place where students who had already participated in voluntourism could get a clear view of what their contribution may have been.

“I think having more and more events on Africa is definitely important, and having people who are educated and have a right to speak on these topics — either from Africa or [who are knowledgeable] on this topic — is really really important.” U

6 | cULTURE | TUESDAY JAnuAry 22, 2019 IntRUDIng On REalItY //

Lion in the Streets is an intensely personal production that is nearly too raw to review Cassandra Betts senior staff Writer

Lion in the Streets is raw — so raw that it’s hard to watch. Even after you do, you’re not sure if you’re glad you did.

The play opens with nineyear-old Isobel, unaware of the fact that she’s a ghost, chattering and running in circles above the audience. This first scene is the weakest part of the production.

If you’re sitting on the ground floor she is hard to hear and hard to see, and when she finally descends to the main level, things do not improve.

School children crudely mock her, but the dialogue seems so awkward and unnatural that it’s difficult to muster up much sympathy for Isobel’s character.

After the first few minutes, I was left with the feeling that this play was going to be hard to sit through.

And then things changed.

The tone of the play shifted, and I knew with certainty that it was going to be difficult to get through, though not for the reason I had initially thought.

Instead of feeling fake, the characters felt too real. The words they were saying still didn’t feel like things that people would actually say, but it was as if they were expressing the reality that constantly lurks beneath the surface of our lives. This was a sort of reality that was too painful and raw to unveil in everyday interactions.

This change occurred when Sue (Cassandra Bourchier) attempts to convince her cheating husband to return home with her.

At first the scene seemed like it was going to be clumsy and overthe-top, but Bourchier plays Sue masterfully, creating vulnerability that bled into every corner of the theatre. She becomes desperate and fragile, and her sense of hopelessness is transferred to the audience, who has no hope of helping her.

The other standout in Lion was actor Lorenzo Tesler-Mabe.

Portraying both a kindly priest overcome with guilt and Edward, an abusive financé, it was only after reading the program that I realized the two characters were played by the same person.

As the priest, Tesler-Made is warm, hesitant yet reassuring.

As Edward, he is terrifying. At one point the abuser accuses his fiancée of being a snake.

In reality, he is the snake-like menace, slithering into the corners you think are safe.

The costume and sets played a huge role in immersing the audience within this fractured hyper-reality. Tesler-Mabe’s unrecognizability as his two characters is no doubt due to his phenomenal acting, but must also be attributed to the costume artists and make-up designers who transformed his entire appearance and demeanour.

The set is raked, which means that the actors are always on

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i felt that i was simultaneously intruding and being intruded upon.

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slants and weird angles, further adding to the sense that the events of the play are happening just below the surface of reality.

Lion in the Streets is a challenging play to watch, and also challenging to review.

When I review something like a Shakespearean comedy, I’m certain that my experience is at least somewhat similar to everyone else in the audience.

But I can’t say the same for Lion in the Streets. It felt personal — intensely so. It left me feeling like I was witnessing moments that didn’t belong to me, while also stirring up thoughts and feelings that didn’t belong to anyone but me. I felt that I was simultaneously intruding and being intruded upon, and ended the night bawling in the arms of the person who’d come to see the play with me.

Lion is supposed to end with the message that you can forgive, that you can take back your life.

I didn’t feel this. Instead I felt despair that this play had been written in 1992, yet everything it showed was still so relevant — that we have made no progress. U

PUBLIC INFORMATION SESSION:

Lion in the Streets will be performed at the Telus Studio Theatre from January 16 to February 2. Student tickets are available online for $11.50 from the Chan Centre. Check out The Ubyssey’s behind the scenes coverage of Lion in the Streets, including backstage photos and rehearsal video, online.

aviva.savelson@ubc.ca or 604 822-0273

Wesbrook Mall Upgrades Join us to learn about planned improvements for Wesbrook Mall and the first phase of construction underway.

Wesbrook Mall, a main transportation corridor, is being upgraded in phases between 16th Avenue and Chancellor Boulevard.

Learn more in person or online Public Information Session: Jan 29, 12pm to 2pm UBC Life Building, 6138 Student Union Blvd Online: planning.ubc.ca/wesbrook-mall WESBROOK MALL

CHANCELLOR BLVD

Questions?

Contact Aviva Savelson, Senior Manager, Public Engagement at

16TH AVE

FEatUREs

JAnuAry 22, 2019 TUESDAY

editor MOIRA WYTON

BUIldING tHEIR oWN taBlE Universities are expanding the definition of diplomacy — and UBc is leading the way

WoRds MOIRA WYTON IllUstRatIoNs ELLA CHAN dEsIGN CLAIRE LLOYD

7

8 | FEATURES | TUESDAY january 22, 2019

A

t the end of a leafy street along the route of the 25, an average Vancouver home sits, unassuming and swarmed by reporters.

As UBC students ride the bus to class, buy their beer and even live within mere blocks of her Dunbar home, Meng Wanzhou — CFO of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei — is under 24-hour surveillance. She was released on $10 million bail following her detention in Vancouver after allegedly committing fraud and violating the United States’s trade sanctions against Iran.

With China rejecting the legality of the extradition request from the United States and appearing to retaliate against Canadian nationals in China as a result, the once-quiet blocks around Meng’s home are going from ordinary crossstreets to the centre of the crossfire. UBC isn’t shying away from international issues like these, whether they’re dropped on its doorstep or not.

In fact, it’s seeking them out.

The university is pursuing a conscious and methodical international strategy that brings issues such as the Huawei affair closer to the institution’s core mission and day-to-day considerations — and it’s leading the way for universities to expand the definition of diplomacy.

“We are in a very unique position to leverage the privilege that we have as being a top-30 school ... and geographically where we are situated [near Asia] to really connect with different parts of the world,” said Vice-Provost International Dr. Murali Chandrashekaran, who assumed his newly-created role last year.

“We need a strategy that looks at ‘international’ from the perspective of the contributions that the university can make in fostering this global citizenship and advancing a better world.”

Trailblazing Global issues like the Huawei affair — with whom UBC has a partnership despite concerns raised by a previous Globe and Mail investigation that its operations in Canada risk our data security — certainly and literally hit UBC close to home.

Others, however, threaten individuals at the institution. The diplomatic fallout between Canada and Saudi Arabia last summer saw the future of hundreds of Saudi students at UBC hang in the balance as they were ordered to return home. US President Donald Trump’s 2017 travel ban against citizens from seven majorityMuslim countries left the ability of many students, staff and faculty to travel to the United States unclear, prompting UBC President Santo Ono to develop a task force to monitor the situation.

Touted by Times Higher Education as the most international university in North America in 2018, UBC is intently building inroads to engage with China and other significant regions, expanding the reach of the traditional university and the scope of diplomacy.

But it’s nothing new.

Since China began its ongoing series of economic and political reforms in the late 1970s, UBC has had partnerships with universities in mainland China, largely through the Sauder School of Business. Dr. Yves Tiberghien, a professor of political science who specializes in Chinese politics and governance, called the partnerships at the time “small and targeted.” Now, UBC’s engagement with China is anything but.

Under former UBC President Dr. Stephen Toope, UBC’s first international strategic plan in 2011 named China, India and Europe as areas of priority. In 2013, the university created a China Council to

advise the president and senior leadership on how best to engage with China.

“Initially, the goals were relatively simple,” said Tiberghien, who has served as executive director of the China Council since it was founded. “The idea was, ‘China’s getting more and more important [and] every faculty has some links with China, right?’ But there was not much coordination, not even sharing of information and also not leveraging of what one is doing with the other.”

“

It’s how we as an institution pursue excellence in research engagement ... to advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada and the world.

Dr. Murali Chandrashekaran, UBC vice-provost international

”

In a country as complex and politically misunderstood as China, informationsharing is key for UBC. Aside from the country’s autocratic nature, according to Tiberghien, Chinese post-secondary institutions and government are intensely organized and centralized, meaning any partnership with universities, corporations or municipal governments must go through the Ministry of Education. The presence of sensitive topics — like the contested statuses of Taiwan and Tibet — means the questions of how and when to engage require even

more coordination, which the China Council hopes to provide.

But despite these complications, Tiberghien sees engagement with China as essential — not only for research to progress, but for students to be culturally fluent as well.

“If you talk to people in science and medicine, the concern that they have here at UBC is that you can’t be in the top research pools in 10 or 20 years from now if you’re not partnering with the Chinese,” said Tiberghien. “China currently has the highest expenditure on higher education in the world, and composes 20 per cent of the world’s population.”

In 2015, then-President Dr. Arvind Gupta signed first-of-their-kind agreements with several universities in China, largely concentrated in the Southwest. Ono has since expanded these agreements in number and in scope.

“If you ignore the country that has 30 per cent of climate problem and 50 per cent of urbanization dynamic in the world, you can’t solve any global problem whatsoever,” said Tiberghien.

Pivoting to problems It is precisely in its reasons for engaging with China that UBC is now rooting its international strategy in issues of global relevance, rather than specific places. “‘International’ is more about issues of global relevance, issues that the university has the capacity to working with others help address — and these issues of global relevance are not just issues that manifest themselves in other parts of the world,” said Chandrashekaran, “but also here at home.

“You don’t need to go to Africa or to India to understand poverty. You can go to East Hastings and see that issue of global relevance manifest.”

january 22, 2019 tueSDAY | FEATURES | 9

In the next five months, Chandrashekaran and the Vice-Provost International office will be working intently on a new “actionoriented” iteration of the UBC international strategy to be deeply connected with the university’s academic mission, which is “to foster global citizenship and to then help to better the world.”

“It’s how we as an institution pursue excellence in research engagement ... to advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia, Canada and the world,” he said.

“Those two things are explicitly calling out for a very focused attention on an international strategy.”

He sees climate change, global public health and poverty alleviation as some of the most pressing issues UBC is uniquely positioned to help address, perhaps in ways traditional diplomats can’t. Specifically, the multidisciplinarity, diverse student body and ability to think more long-term than most elected governments are all supported by their abilities to be “relatively impartial” in politically and culturally sensitive scenarios — and his colleagues agree.

“I still think about diplomacy as primarily based on respect and on the sensitivity that you bring into any kind of conversation,” said Dr. Anna Kindler, senior international advisor to the dean of education and member of the China Council.

And UBC is certainly working with sensitive material. Since 2010, the Knowledge Partnership Program (KPP) has seen four to six professors from North Korea visit UBC each year to study at the Sauder School of Business or the faculty of forestry. It is one of the only programs with the dictatorship in North America and doesn’t rely on any support from the Canadian government, other than granting study visas for the professors.

“

I still think about diplomacy as primarily based on respect and on the sensitivity that you bring into any kind of conversation.

Dr. Anna Kindler, senior advisor, international to the dean of the faculty of education

“UBC is the university that’s furthest out in front of this, but there are other universities in Canada that are interested in this role of education ... as a way to connect to societies that we don’t necessarily agree with, that we don’t understand very well,” said Dr. Paul Evans, professor of political science, co-founder of the KPP and director emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research in a November interview. Canada suspended diplomatic ties with North Korea in 2010 following nuclear testing by the dictatorship and now pursues a strategy of “controlled engagement.”

“There’s the idea that universities can play a special role in opening doors — small doors — and maybe even small windows [and] UBC is ahead on that.”

This phenomenon is what Tiberghien and Evans call “two-track diplomacy” — academics abroad, by virtue of being perceived as more neutral than diplomats, have more access to information and opportunity to partner with governments than other foreign governments. They may also be able to connect with colleagues on academic levels to gain more insight without seeming to operate with a political motive.

And while the Canadian government doesn’t object to the program, it certainly keeps it at arms length. Dr. Kyung-Ae

”

Park, director and co-founder of the KPP, is quick to note that the program’s goal is to foster greater understanding of how to work together, not to criticize how either country conducts itself.

“It’s purely academic, and it’s important to have a track-two channel to communicate when there’s no governmentto-government direct channel,” she said.

In this sense, UBC’s impartiality has allowed it to navigate the sensitivities of many more tense international situations — perhaps not outside of traditional diplomacy, but certainly between the lines.

“This KPP program with North Korea highlights how strong university involvement can be abroad [and] how meaningful that can be,” said Chandrashekaran. “Universities are great vehicles for an expanded view of diplomacy.”

International introspection The university is not itself a diplomat, but it has interests to protect just the same.

And much of that work starts at home.

For Dr. Moura Quayle, director of the recently-created UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, this means bridging the gap between academia and the public sector in order to break down the

misperceptions that make snafus turn into full-blown crises.

“We really want government, business, NGOs — everybody — to be making policy, designing and developing, it based on good evidence,” said Quayle. “Our work isn’t getting out there — that’s certainly my experience in government, that there’s a big gap between us.”

Quayle has been working with the UBC VP Research and Innovation office to look into where UBC could be partnering and better sharing knowledge through a series of recent reports. But all paths seemed to lead back to students — and notably, how students can learn to ask the right questions.

As Chandrashekaran considers the creation of an India Council and an Africa Initiative to explore how UBC could contribute to solutions to mounting poverty and resource management challenges in both regions, the last things he wants is for students and faculty to “helicopter in.”

“Universities have been somewhat guilty of thinking we have the answers,” he said. “These challenges that we’re trying to address, that cannot be the starting point.

“This is a great opportunity for the university to say, ‘Let’s bring together people who all have an interest and let’s listen to all these multiple points of view from a perspective of humility and authentic engagement.’”

UBC may not have a seat at the United Nations anytime soon — but it’s certainly building its own table.

“It’s in our DNA to be the leading university that believes in education, that believes in talking to people even if you don’t agree with those people,” said Evans, “and forming, as I say, those little windows into one another’s societies.” U — with files from Lawrence Ge and Zak Vescera

OPINIONS

January 22, 2019 Tuesday

Editor TRISTAN WHEELER

10

‘non-essential’ //

Editorial: Doug Ford’s tampering with student fees puts campus media in danger The Ubyssey Editorial Board

In a great, depressing feat of irony, and despite all his talk to the contrary, Doug Ford is coming after free speech in a way that will hurt students more than it will help them.

Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has announced huge modifications to the structure of tuition and fees at post-secondary institutions across the province. One of the changes will mark only student fees that fall into the category of health and safety as “essential,” leaving schools to decide whether they will allow students the potential to opt-out of the remaining fees.

There are many repercussions to these ominous decisions, and The Ubyssey is particularly concerned that our talented colleagues at student newspapers throughout Ontario will face dire consequences. In addition to dwindling advertising dollars, student media runs on small annual fees, and allowing students to opt out will undercut what should be

an essential campus service.

We stand by the student newspapers in Ontario that are opposing these changes — by our count, more than 40 papers will be impacted.

It should be common knowledge that these papers are doing incredibly important work and provide in-depth, hyper-local coverage that other media outlets simply do not have the resources and know-how to cover.

Not only that, but student media is often the training ground for the newsrooms of tomorrow; removing an invaluable opportunity to gain that experience will impact the already-bleak diversity of the nationwide media landscape.

It’s important to underscore that universities will be given the power to decide exactly which fees are non-essential, meaning that they have an important opportunity to foster their own accountability and reinforce the cruciality of their own student media.

Student journalism is essential

hobvias sudoneighm

“Student journalism is essential.”

and to label it as otherwise impacts not only free speech but also campus culture and the voices often underrepresented in

traditional media. Student media amplifies those voices; Ford evidently wants to silence them.

The Ontario government’s

recent decisions hurt students more than they help them — and place campus press in a dangerous position. U

terminology //

Op-Ed: By listing India’s official language as Hindi, the Asian studies department glosses over almost 70 years of language politics

“[I]t appears to imply a glossing over of a fairly significant part of Indian history.”

Riya Talitha Senior Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, I was going through course listings and I came across a weird line in the description of the Hindi-Urdu program in the Asian Studies Department. UBC describes Hindi as “the official language of the Republic of India.” The thing is,

India doesn’t have one official language, it has two — Hindi and English. Of course, these are just the languages that the federal government operates in. Practically, there are 22 recognized languages, 122 major languages and around 1,600 other languages spoken.

Hindi was initially supposed to be the sole official language, but when the time came to establish

ELIZABETH WANG

that constitutionally, there were huge riots and political unrest in non-Hindi speaking parts of the country, so much so that English was kept on as an official language.

Additionally, there are supposed to be language reviews every 10 years to evaluate the usage of Hindi and to promote it, but even that is a contested topic. This endeavour towards the promotion of Hindi is

an expression of regionalism, that is, longstanding Northern cultural domination over the South.

This is the main problem with that description — it refers to a contested issue with overwhelmingly broad-based terminology, without really getting into all the complicated implications.

The concept of an official language in India is difficult to quantify exactly because most states have their own official languages.

The website also states that “In their basic forms, Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language written in two different scripts, but with interesting differences in vocabulary owing to their historical relationships with two very different religious traditions and cosmopolitan languages.” This is accurate, but it also should be noted that one of the major reasons behind this is purely political - i.e, the longstanding India-Pakistan rivalry. This separation is not entirely because of the natural progression of history but is just another reminder of the terrible sentiments and attitudes that led to partition of India and Pakistan and continues to fuel hatred today.

Full disclosure – I’m proudly South Indian but I grew up in New Delhi, which is undoubtedly in the North and used to be an Urdu stronghold. I haven’t studied Hindi since the eighth grade and I can barely speak it (or any Indian language). I’ve also never taken

a Hindi-Urdu course at UBC, so perhaps whoever teaches them takes the care and time to go over the thorny history of both the languages before they start teaching.

I would suggest to change the “the” in the description on the course website to an “a.”

If I’m being perfectly honest, the real reason I even thought about this for more than a few minutes was because of how jarring it was to see such a clinical description of Hindi.

India is small on a map, and I wasn’t really aware that an entire language could be reduced to a few sentences. Unfortunately, this is the nature of academia and a habit of the institution.

Ultimately, India has two languages – Hindi and English, and any change to this state of affairs is more likely to be more politically motivated than for the reasons of convenience that were originally outlined in the Constitution.

The wording on the Asian Studies website is a minor inaccuracy, but to someone who is fairly well-versed and quite passionate about Indian politics, it appears to imply a glossing over of a fairly significant part of Indian history. It is only a few words different, but changing it would add more nuance and that, I think, would represent my country a lot more accurately. U Riya Talitha is a second-year arts student and a senior staff writer for The Ubyssey.

FROM THE BLOG

january 22, 2019 tuesday

Editor Tristan Wheeler

unrequited love //

11

Universal Grammar //

A linguistic analysis of why the new The Dingbat: The Cairn to my fountain Exchange residence is poorly named

We must turn to the science of linguistics in order to find out.

Iain Coates Staff Writer

Our names sound so good together. Martha and Cairn.

Tait Gamble Staff Writer

Since the day I was built, I’ve known there was only one structure for me. My water was flowing, I was shiny and sturdy.

They say love happens when you least expect it. And one day I looked to my left – and there he was. He’s been kicking around UBC since 1966, so the age difference is certainly on my mind a lot. But why does that matter? I may just be a fountain, but we have a lot in common and it’s not just the concrete.

I get vandalized. The Cairn is vandalized. I am a fixture on the UBC campus. The Cairn is a fixture on the UBC campus.

Tourists pose in front of me year round. Engineering undergrads pose in front of the Cairn on Imagine Day. Our names sound so good together. Martha and Cairn. More importantly, our names sound good together as as a Ubyssey headline. “Martha and Cairn get vandalized again.” “Martha and Cairn plan a shotgun renovation!”

“Joy for Martha and Cairn: Their first plaque set to arrive in nine months!”

A few times, I’ve felt like he was making a move. When I was vandalized this past fall, he said “I wish it had been me instead of you. You’re so much more central to student life.” And on one particularly beautiful Vancouver night this summer, he said softly, “I wouldn’t want to be permanently situated beside any other structure.” Ponderosa tells me I’m a strong, self-supporting structure who “don’t need no Cairn.” But she’s been going with Orchard Commons for a while now, so she can’t really talk.

Cairn has a good group of friends, which is important to me.

Well, maybe they’re more like

ELLA CHAN

supporters. Like, whenever he’s vandalized or looking rundown, the EUS painting team will fix him up. He’s even popular with people not in engineering. They admire him too. Sure people want to hang out on my benches, but do I get decorated seasonally? Am I revered? No to both!

And then there’s our difference in size. He’s compact and made of concrete. I’m much larger and full of fluid. It worries me. Sometimes I think this could really get in the way of us getting to know one another.

But these negative thoughts don’t stick in my mind for long and certainly haven’t stopped me from daydreaming about our future. My perfect date with the Cairn would be a sunny day in September, when it’s bright and my metal spell-out of “University of British Columbia” really shines and my water sparkles. It’d be early enough in the semester that no one has walked through me yet or filled me with bubbles.

Anyways, Cairn, whose big red E looks amazing in this light, asks me if I’d like to “hang out sometime, you know, just the two of us.” I say yes. We spend some time eavesdropping on visitors strolling Main Mall. He compliments me on my spouts and we discuss how I can change the height of my water. If things hadn’t ended so badly with Flag Pole last year, I would suggest that we watch the sunset over the Rose Garden, but that would feel like rubbing it in. Instead, we’ll gaze up at the sky and take in the clouds. If all goes according to plan, I might splash him at the end of the night. U The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s new humour column. You can submit completed pieces or pitches to Angela O’Donnell at a.odonnell@ ubyssey.ca.

For those unfamiliar, “Exchange” is the name of a new residence building that will be completed in time for the 2019 academic year.

“Exchange?” you may ask. “Is that really what they’re calling it?” Yes, it is. Doesn’t sit well on your ears, does it? As far as residence names go, this isn’t one of UBC’s strongest. Why is that? We must turn to the science of linguistics in order to find out.

How does linguistics help us understand why the name “Exchange” and the concept of “student residence” don’t mesh well in our brains? This sort of problem needs nothing less than

ELIZABETH WANG

the theoretical framework of how humans create and process language in order to be solved. I have dedicated weeks of research, most of it consolidated on the final day before the deadline, to this issue. It is a hill I am prepared to die on.

Firstly, the word “Exchange” is a verb. This is an uncommon choice for the name of a building, where nouns are strongly favoured.

This is apparent in the names of the other residences on campus — none of them are verbs. What makes “Exchange” so special that it gets a verb name? No one but UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services may ever know.

Secondly, “Exchange” begins

m a r g o r p A ts.

M l e u d m i ga t t in r Pa ork w r fo

with a vowel. This is a break from tradition — the grand old residences of yore, like “Walter Gage” or “Totem Park” begin with consonants — but is part of an interesting trend. “Orchard Commons” also begins with a vowel, but only one of its two words does, which means it only has a 50 per cent vowel-initial word rate, which is superior to “Exchange’s” unacceptable 100 per cent rate.

Thirdly, “Exchange” is too short in both syllable and word count.

The human larynx is accustomed to residence names with more than one word and more than two syllables. “That’s it?!” our larynxes shout in anguish as we pronounce the name of UBC’s newest residence. “It’s too short!”

Fourthly, let me address the elephant in the room. The residence whose name you are so familiar with by now is named after a nearby bus exchange, which simply fails to conjure any pleasant imagery in my mind. If the idea was to name the residence after something on that stretch of Wesbrook Mall, there were so many better options: “Confusing Intersection” or “Shuttered Church” are two examples that spring to mind.

All in all, it’s up to you to decide if “Exchange” works as the name of UBC’s latest residence, but I hope I have put your mind at ease with my theory of why it does not. Either way, don’t come crying to me once people start making constant jokes about being “Exchange students.” U

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SCIENCE

JANUARY 22, 2019 tuesday

Editor JAMES VOGL

the long con //

12

it came from outer space //

Twenty years after his initial discovery, The Ubyssey’s 2019 sci-fi a UBC scientist is informing the competition is here creation of a novel cancer drug

The new drug recieved FDA approval in November 2018.

James Vogl Science Editor

For Dr. Poul Sorensen, the path to notoriety began with a seemingly niche discovery.

Twenty years ago, Sorensen — a professor in the UBC department of pathology and laboratory medicine — had just returned to Vancouver from Los Angeles, where he had been working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California. He set up a lab at BC Children’s Hospital and began studying chromosomal translocations and their effect on pediatric cancers. Chromosomal translocation describes a process by which chromosomes — carriers of genetic information — are rearranged, “trading” pieces with other chromosomes.

Sorensen knew that these chromosomal translocations could play a role in cancer development, but he was particularly intrigued by a rare type of pediatric cancer called congenital fibrasarcoma which affects connective tissues. What drew him to the study of this specific cancer was the fact that, with the diagnostic tools of the time, it was nearly impossible to distinguish cancerous growths of that type from benign growths on connective tissues called fibromatosis.

“If you just looked down the microscope, you couldn’t tell them apart,” he said. “They really looked the same.”

So he and his team turned to the molecular differences between the tumors in their search for a

FILE JERRY YIN

reliable diagnostic marker for fibrasarcoma. Sorensen had noticed a chromosomal change associated with the cancerous tumors and upon further investigation, they discovered it was the result of chromosomal translocation.

At this point, Sorensen tasked one of his PhD students at the time, Stevan Knezevich, with identifying the specific details of the change.

One genetic change that can occur as a result of chromosomal translocation is gene fusion, where separate genes come together to make a new gene. Knezevich eventually identified a specific gene fusion associated with congenital fibrasarcoma that resulted in a new gene called ETV6-NTRK3.

When the team published these results in 1998, they were of interest to pediatric oncologists concerned about finding an improved diagnostic marker for fibrasarcoma, but otherwise went largely unnoticed. “Even though it was potentially drug-able, it’s so rare that no pharma company was going to go after it,” said Sorensen.

Once his team had identified the fusion mutation ETV6-NTRK3 as the source of the cancer, they turned their attention to understanding the exact mechanism by which the mutation caused cancers. What they found was that the mutation produced a mutant enzyme that plays a role in cell growth and does not need a chemical trigger to be activated. This, in turn, leads to the uncontrolled cell growth that characterizes cancer.

After discovering the particular mechanism that made the fusion

mutation cancerous, something unexpected began to happen.

The ETV6-NTRK3 mutation that Sorensen and his team had identified in 1998 as specific to congenital fibrasarcoma began to show up in connection with other cancers as well.

Soon after their initial discovery, Sorensen and his team detected the mutation’s presence in a significant number of breast cancer biopsies. Sorensen would go on to partner with Dr. Stuart Orkin — a pediatric oncologist at Harvard Medical School — to demonstrate in a 2007 paper that the ETV6NTRK3 mutation was a driver of breast cancer.

Following that paper, a study of Ukranian patients who developed thyroid cancer following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster found the mutation’s presence in a notable number of cases.

The mutation or its variants have now come to be associated with nearly two dozen different types of cancers.

“The estimate now is that these NTRK fusions are present in about one per cent of human tumors, so what started as a super-rare finding has turned into something with very broad applicability,” said Sorensen.

As the mutation his team discovered in 1998 began to appear more and more frequently, the pharmaceutical company Loxo Oncology took notice and began developing a drug that would target the enzyme associated with NTRK fusion cancers.

Larotrectinib, the end result of their joint endeavour with Bayer Pharmaceutical, works by binding with receptors on the mutant enzyme that inhibit cell growth, effectively attacking the cancer development at its source. Such a drug has the potential to be much more effective at treating cancers while having fewer adverse side effects because of the specific mechanism with which it operates.

Early clinical trials of the drug have yielded promising results, and larotrectinib was granted limited approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in late November of 2018. It is currently under review

by Health Canada.

Sorensen said that he is often asked if he will profit financially from the development of the new drug, but he emphasized that the development of a commerciallyviable product was never a goal of any of the team that originally discovered ETV6-NTRK3. “We’re scientists, we do it for the sake of discovery and finding new things,” he said.

He also expressed a feeling of immense satisfaction at having been part of a unique process of discovery that has led to tangible positive changes in the lives of cancer patients.

“It’s good for people in the lab now to see that what they do can have some meaning,” he said. “It’s not just a bunch of scientists playing in a sandbox … but it actually means something to patients.” U

get to have their story published in The Ubyssey’s print issue alongside an illustration, while also being published online with the runners up.

You must be a UBC student to enter.

Submission details

FILE JERRY YIN

James Vogl Science Editor

Do you fancy yourself the next Ursula Le Guinn or Isaac Asmiov?

Have no idea who those people are but like to write and want to try something new?

Consider submitting your story to The Ubyssey’s second annual scifi writing competition!

Our criteria are twofold; science and tech innovations should feature prominently in the submissions we receive and each piece should be no longer than 1,500 words.

If you’re in need of some creative inspiration, Slate’s “Future Tense Fiction” column is a good place to start.

Contest Rules You may submit one story no more than 1,500 words in length.

Illustrations are encouraged, but not necessary.

Submissions close on March 8 at midnight.

The winners will be announced on March 22.

There will be one grand prize winner and three runners-up. All winners will be awarded some sweet, sweet Ubyssey swag.

The grand prize winner will

Submit your work as a PDF to science@ubyssey.ca with the subject heading “Sci-Fi Competition.” Do not include your name anywhere on the PDF (we’d like to judge the submissions blind, i.e. without bias).

You will be contacted via email if you have won.

Terms and Conditions By submitting your work to The Ubyssey, you (the author) hereby agree to give The Ubyssey the right to publish the submitted work both online and in print.

Ownership of the work submitted remains with the author.

Publication and reprint rights remain with The Ubyssey for the space of four months after its initial publication.

After the four-month time period following the first publication of the author’s work, all rights will return to the author.

The Ubyssey asks that you notify us in writing before submitting your work to another publication within the four-month period.

If at any point during the competition process — from submission to publication and onwards — The Ubyssey becomes aware of any misrepresentation by the submitting party in question, The Ubyssey maintains the right to rescind any and all benefits, prizes, publication or promotion given to said party. u

SPORTS+REC

JANUARY 22, 2019 Tuesday

Editor Lucy fox

13

recap //

Weekend rundown: Yes, there were games other than Winter Classic Straight set sweeps

Lucy Fox Sports Editor

Sure, we had a few slips this weekend — losing in the Winter Classic is still at the back of our minds. Thunderbirds teams more than made up for that Friday slump though, including the men’s hockey team on Saturday afternoon. We’re talking sweeps.

We’re talking national rankings and clinched playoff spots. We’re talking personal milestones.

It’s almost as if Winter Classic was all a weird, extremely rowdy dream.

Rugby 7s win first tournament in CanWest series It was a busy weekend in Edmonton for the women’s rugby 7s team as they played their first Canada West tournament of the year. After winning all five of their games, they claimed first place in the first of three series coming up in the next few weeks. It puts UBC in the lead across the trio of tournaments with 15 points; the Lethbridge Pronghorns sit just behind them with 12 points after losing to the T-Birds 19-12 in the final on Sunday.

Some stats to note: Delaney King put up five tries, Shoshanah Seumanutafa put up two tries and eleven conversions, and Emma Feldinger put up three tries and three conversions, over their five games.

The series continues at the University of the Fraser Valley on February 2 and 3, and at UBC on March 2 and 3.

For the first time, well, all season, there’s the best possible news coming out of the volleyball camp.

While much of campus was off celebrating Winter Classic, War Memorial Gym had things of its own to celebrate: series sweeps for both the men’s and women’s teams — in straight sets too.

Though it’s not the first time either side has had a series sweep this season, it is the first time both teams have found two-game success in the same weekend.

The women’s side now sit in fourth place in Canada West with a 11-7 record. The men, on the other hand, are making slow progress up the table; they’re in ninth with a 6-10 record.

Basketball teams keep on gettin’ on Both Thunderbirds basketball teams have been on hot streaks the last several weeks. Yet again, the teams swept their weekend games, this time against the Manitoba Bisons. The women’s side are sitting mid-Canada West table in 5th — good enough to clinch them a playoff spot with two more weekends of regular season left.

The men are up in second place in the division.

Highlights over the weekend include a 34-point game from Jadon Cohee, and double doubles from Grant Shephard and Patrick Simon on the men’s side to see the team to their 94-74 Saturday win. For the women, Saturday was a stats domination for the Thunderbirds beyond just the 8556 scoreline.

FIXTURES Sport

Home

Score

Away

Basketball (W)

Brandon

50-77

UBC

Basketball (M)

Brandon

81-98

UBC

Ice Hockey (W)

Calgary

2-1

UBC

Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

2-3

Calgary

Volleyball (W)

UBC

3-0

UBC Okanagan

Volleyball (M)

UBC

3-0

UBC Okanagan

Friday, January 18

Playoff-bound ‘Birds It’s been a season of ups and downs for the men’s hockey team — this weekend was no different. After a loss in the Winter Classic on Friday (3-2 in overtime), the T-Birds got some redemption on Saturday with a 4-3 win against their Winter Classic vanquishers the Calgary

UBC

3-0

UBC Okanagan

Rugby 7s

Alberta

10-20

UBC

Rugby 7s

UBC

50-0

Regina

Ice Hockey (W)

Calgary

1-4

UBC

Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

4-3

Calgary

Rugby (M)

Vancouver Rowing Club

0-46

UBC

Basketball (W)

Brandon

56-85

UBC

Rugby 7s

UBC

21-19

Victoria

Volleyball (W)

UBC

3-0

UBC Okanagan

Basketball (M)

Brandon

74-94

UBC

Rugby 7s

UBC

35-5

Calgary

Rugby 7s

UBC

19-12

Lethbridge

Sunday, January 20

Dinos. The win clinched the Thunderbirds a playoff spot.

Milestones for McFadden Though the women’s hockey team are still in the fight for a solidified playoff spot, their 4-1 win on Saturday had some even sweeter moments for rookie Ashley

McFadden. She managed two goals and one assist on the night — her most prolific game so far in her young UBC career.

Another cool tidbit from the team this week? Goaltender Tory Micklash was named U Sports player of the week for her performances against the Alberta Golden Bears last weekend. U

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 19002

Public Open House

Acadia Modular Child Care Buildings

Join us on Tuesday, February 5 to view and comment on the proposed addition of three prefabricated modular classrooms with outdoor playspaces north of the existing UBC Child Care Services.

Date: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Times: 4:30 - 6:00PM Place: Activity Room 147, Child Care Services Administration Building, 2881 Acadia Road Plans will be displayed for three prefabricated classrooms, totalling 929m2, with outdoor playspaces to support up to 100 new child care spaces in Acadia Park.

Saturday, January 19 Volleyball (M)

SCOTT YOUNG

UBC Okanagan jumps to try and block Thunderbird Michael Dowhaniuk .

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

Can’t attend in person? Online feedback will be accepted until February 12, 2019. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager, Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586 This event is wheelchair accessible.

14 | sports+rec | tuESDAY january 22, 2019

Though it wouldn’t end in a UBC win, we still had a damn good time at this year’s Winter Classic

We may have lost, but it was still all smiles at Winter Classic.

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

The ceremonial puck drop with Dr. Bob Hindmarch, now a member of the Order of Canada.

Brendan Smith Senior Staff Writer

Maxwell James takes the ice for UBC.

UBC breaks past Calgary.

ELIZABETH WANG

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

“There’s no crying in baseball,” Tom Hanks famously said in A League of Their Own. Yet when it comes to the Thunderbirds men’s hockey team, it’s hard not to shed a tear for the group who continued their losing streak on Friday night with a 3-2 Winter Classic loss against the Calgary Dinos.

The outcome didn’t make it any quieter at Doug Mitchell Sports Centre, which boasted a crowd of 5,766 for the annual festival game.

“I think it was the loudest I’ve seen it in all the Winter Classics,” UBC head coach Sven Butenschon said postgame. “[The crowd] sure brought their energy and we were feeding off of it.”

Before the game got underway, former Director of UBC Athletics Bob Hindmarch, who was recently inducted into the Order of Canada, ceremonially dropped the puck, bringing the Thunderbird faithful to their feet. It was a touching tribute for a man who dedicated his career to UBC Athletics.

In the early moments of Friday’s match-up, play was even as both teams started out strong defensively. A sloppy turnover in the eighth minute by UBC allowed Dinos forward Riley Sheen to walk in and rifle a shot past UBC goalie Rylan Toth for the first goal of the game.

The first powerplay went to Calgary as well, but even with the man advantage it would be UBC who would come away with the best scoring chance. Defenseman Kyle Becker broke free for a breakaway but was turned away by Calgary goaltender Jordan Papirny.

Down a goal heading into the second, the Thunderbirds were searching for a spark. A couple of big hits from forward Maxwell James brought the crowd to their feet, but it was captain Jerret Smith that sent the crowd into a frenzy as he scored off a pass from forward Micheal Stenerson. Toth started to settled in too between the posts for UBC, as he stopped a breakaway attempt by Calgary forward Robbie Fisher.

UBC fans enjoying the Winter Classic.

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

However, he could not stop a one-timer from Sheen who was left uncovered after UBC once again failed to break out of their own zone; the forward netted his second of the game in the 12th minute of the second. UBC pushed back and were able to get their first powerplay of the game midway through the period. They weren’t able to find an equalizer and the period ended 2-1.

Frustrations started to boil over for the Thunderbirds in the third — a dirty hit set off a scrum that saw referees falling and helmets flying.

Once the dust cleared, UBC got another powerplay opportunity but once again they couldn’t capitalize.

For most of the third, UBC managed to control the play.

Another Becker rush would lead to a scoring chance for the home side with Papirny out of position, but no UBC player could put away the rebound. With time winding down and the crowd getting restless, UBC got another powerplay off a 10-minute misconduct penalty from Dinos defenseman Ryan Gagon. This time, the Thunderbirds would make the Dinos pay. A Jerret Smith point shot created a rebound that Stenerson tapped in to tie the game with under six minutes to play.

“He’s an older guy,” Butenschon said of Stenerson.“Those are the kind of guys that usually show up in [these] kind of games, so his experience was pretty clear out there and it was nice to see him get rewarded.”

The game would go into overtime where the Dinos would take control. A wristshot by forward Dane Gibson would be the game-winner, giving UBC another heartbreaking loss at home.

“I thought we were right there,” Butenschon said.

“We did a lot of good things. It was a good character comeback there in the third period. In overtime, we lost our coverage and they capitalized.”

“We can’t get frustrated, we’ve got to stay positive.”

With the loss, UBC move to 10-9 on the season in Canada West — fifth in the league with a fair amount of wiggle room ahead of the sixth place Lethbridge Pronghorns.

All said and done, we still had great party that night. U

ELIZABETH WANG

january 22, 2019 TUESDAY | sports+rec | 15

President Santa Ono gives Winter Classic a rave review.

UBC fans catch a glimpse of their team.

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

UBC’s goalkeeping duo catch up before puck drop.

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

UBC’s Devan Fafard gets Winter Classic ready in the wings of Doug Mitchell.

ELIZABETH WANG

ISABELLA FALSETTI

UBC’s Austin Glover moves up ice.

ELIZABETH WANG

Some of UBC’s younger fans crowd the glass.

ISABELLA FALSETTI

16 | GAMES | TUESDAY JAnuAry 22, 2019

courtesy BestcrossWords.coM

CROsswORD PUZZlE aCROss 1 sudden convulsion; 6 American football measure; 10 gilbert of “roseanne”; 14 chip dip; 15 caesar’s wings; 16 controversial orchard spray; 17 in spite of; 20 At the present time; 21 refrain in a children’s song; 22 swift steed; 26 sends back into custody; 30 seratonin, dopamine, epinephrine, e.g.; 34 Join; 35 gangster’s rod; 36 common Market abbr.; 38 conductor Zubin; 39 Possessed; 40 Play for time; 42 that, in tijuana; 43 cooking container;

44 verdi opera; 45 Planes, trains, and automobiles, e.g.; 49 Body of retainers; 50 Bird of prey; 51 Fuzzy fruit; 54 to’s partner; 56 direct; 64 Macho man; 65 Asian inland sea; 66 Weird; 67 Melody; 68 dole (out); 69 transmits;

7 Pacino and gore; 8 deserter; 9 narc’s org.; 10 one who enjoys inflicting pain; 11 i cannot tell ___; 12 Punjabi princess; 13 Jason’s ship; 18 Burn down; 19 sparks and Beatt y; 22 Make ___ for oneself; 23 student’s second chance; 24 Writer; 25 spoiled child;

courtesy krAZydAd.coM

27 one million tons; 28 diary of ___ housewife; 29 it may be picked; 31 Andean tuber; 32 objects from everyday life; 33 egg yolk; 37 dull sound of impact; 39 Pueblo indian; 40 rr stop; 41 9th letter of the hebrew alphabet; 43 l.A. clock setting; 44 Alamogordo’s county; 46 Area with coinoperated games;

47 “M*A*s*h” soft drink; 48 irritate; 51 hey, over here!; 52 caesar’s accusation; 53 Make ___ for it; 55 Mined materials; 57 leg, slangily; 58 charlemagne’s realm: Abbr.; 59 Make lace; 60 very early; 61 Prince valiant’s son; 62 Free; 63 ___ Moines, iowa;

DOwn

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 12017-5

1 taxpayer’s id; 2 kung ___ chicken; 3 cockpit abbr.; 4 compass reading; 5 common street name; 6 name of god;

Public Open House

Wesbrook Community Centre Child Care Addition

Join us on Tuesday, January 29 to view and comment on the proposed child care addition on the west side of the existing Wesbrook Community Centre at 3335 Webber Lane. Plans will be displayed for a one storey, 629m2 addition for 49 licensed child care spaces.

Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2019 Times: 4:30 - 6:00PM Place: Lobby, Wesbrook Community Centre, 3335 Webber Lane

U

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

Can’t attend in person? Online feedback will be accepted until February 05, 2019. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations

did you know that . . .

For further information: Please direct questions to Karen Russell, Manager, Development Services karen.russell@ubc.ca 604-822-1586

the horse has the largest eye of any land mammal.

The public is also invited to attend the upcoming Development Permit Board Meeting for this project:

bonus equine fact: horses are unable to vomit!

— Joey K. send your best facts to visuals@ubyssey.ca to be featured in next week’s issue!

Date/Time: February 13, 5:00 - 7:00PM Location: Wesbrook Community Centre, 3335 Webber Lane

This event is wheelchair accessible.