November 27,2018

NoVEMbER 27, 2018 | VolUME C | iSSUE XVi DUCT-TAPED TO A LAWN CHAIR SINCE 1918

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NEWS

CUltURE

SCiENCE

SPoRtS

Wall Institute change sparks backlash

oPiNioN

Decolonizing information with “Indigitization”

Diotte lawsuit threatens free press

Wood sculpture showcases new fabrication method

Athletic facilities need accessible rejig

THE UBYSSEY

the

hunger g a p

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rising food bank usage is just the tip of the food insecurity iceberg

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NoVEMbER 27, 2018 tueSDAY

YoUR gUidE to UbC EVENtS & PEoPlE

eVents

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our CamPus

‘Existential nightmare’ Dr. Minelle Mahtani uses the power of storytelling to create a sense of place for racialized faculty tUESdaY, NoVEMbER 27 diVe Presents: story slam 7:30 to 9 P.M. @ KoERNER’S PUb UbC’s first-ever story slam! $4 online

WEdNESdaY, NoVEMbER 28 14 not forgotten 11 a.M. to 2 P.M. @ ENgiNEERiNg StUdENt CENtRE Remembering the 14 women killed at l’École Polytechnique No cost

FRidaY, NoVEMbER 30 tHe sixtH annual uBC Polar Bear swim 2 to 4 P.M. @ WRECK bEaCh Celebrate the end of classes with a nice, refreshing dip!

FREE

on tHe CoVer CoVer By Claire Lloyd “Just the tip.”

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

U THE UBYSSEY

NoVEMbER 27, 2018 | VolUME C| iSSUE XVi CONTACT

EDITORIAL

STAFF

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor samantha mcCabe coordinating@ubyssey.ca

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LEGAL the Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of british Columbia. it is published every tuesday by the Ubyssey Publications Society.

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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

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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.

CoURtESY MiNEllE MahtaNi

“Storytelling is the antidote to bias.”

moira wyton Features Editor

The fact that Dr. Minelle Mahtani, UBC’s first senior advisor to the provost on racialized faculty, exists at all is a “minor miracle.”

A Muslim woman of Indian descent, Mahtani calls herself “an existential nightmare.” The deep tensions between Muslims and Hindus is mirrored in the relationship between her father, a Hindu from India, and her mother, a Muslim from Iran.

“I’m always amazed my parents met and fell in love and had a family,” she said.

This awe of her parents’ story runs deep in Mahtani’s approach to understanding the challenges racialized faculty members face at universities like UBC. “When I got the phone call from the provost telling me I got the job, it felt like the culmination of everything I had been working towards for many years,” said Mahtani, who began her roles as senior advisor and as an associate professor in the Social Justice Institute in September.

“It felt like coming home in some way — reconnecting with people and building something at an institution I deeply care about,” she said, noting that she previously studied, worked as an adjunct professor and helped launch the masters of journalism program at UBC. Despite her familiarity with UBC, the entire point of her new position is to disrupt the easy and pave the way for difficult conversations. In her role advising the provost on matters concerning racialized faculty, Mahtani is charged with a university whose faculty of colour are paid less on average than their white counterparts, underrepresented in leadership and disproportionately employed in precarious positions to begin with.

But Mahtani doesn’t shy away from the challenge. As she seeks out conversations with racialized faculty across the institution, she is “thinking about the power

of storytelling and how it helps people think differently about the world in which we live.”

“Storytelling is an antidote to bias,” said Mahtani, echoing a belief held by Sisonke Msimang, a South-African writer she recently interviewed. “I’m trying to think about how we tell stories about people and how might we tell a different story to get people to approach the world in a more humane way.”

One story Mahtani is anxious to rework is the separation of gender and race in discussions about equity at universities. Since 2016, UBC has had a senior advisor to the provost on women faculty and one on Indigenous issues since 2009. The siloing of these identity-based equity positions, according to Mahtani, can cause “real limitations” to the work that can be done.

“We must always look at [these issues] from an intersectional lens,” she stressed. “The fact that UBC has identified my position allows for a more fulsome understanding of racialized faculty that is groundbreaking and really allows for a different conversation to be had around the experiences of racialized faculty.”

These complex intersections are what inspire Mahtani to have the difficult conversations she needs to so that she can figure out where UBC has to go. “That’s the gift of this job … I get to have these conversations with people who are really building something vital at this university.”

Mahtani brings her own gifts to the role, too. As a former journalist and host of the radio show Sense of Place since 2013, Mahtani has interviewed professors, writers, academics and storytellers about a broad range of topics including race, academia, community and identity.

She credits the show for teaching her the importance of listening and listening closely, a skill she sees as imperative to her work at UBC. “I’ve been very moved by the stories I’ve been privileged to hear from racialized faculty and Indigenous faculty so far,” she said,

calling the research and work done before her by the Equity & Inclusion Office and the Vice-President’s Strategic Implementation Committee on Equity and Diversity “extraordinary.”

She is, however, careful to differentiate the experiences of racialized faculty from Indigenous faculty, which she says are connected but distinct. Looking at the “very serious ongoing injustices and inequality that Indigenous people face” at UBC is a priority for Mahtani, but she recognizes that some multicultural notions like “‘rainbow world culture’ ... eclipse the experiences of Indigenous people.”

“It’s oppressive to Indigenous people,” she said, “and we have to be very careful in my portfolio not to ignore the experiences of Indigenous faculty.”

Central to Mahtani’s mission is not just hiring racialized faculty, but empowering them to achieve positions of power at all levels of the university.

“I’m trying to have the conversation with racialized faculty … [to] hopefully allow for a more fulsome, accurate analysis around what it is that we need to do to ensure that UBC becomes a place where we encourage a heightened sense of human flourishing for everyone on this campus.”

This creation of “a sense of place on campus for racialized faculty,” will in turn support racialized students, according to Mahtani, because “when students of colour see that there’s a professor of colour who’s teaching them, they feel more comfortable.”

“It opens up a different line of communication, and for me one of the most gratifying things that I’ve seen here at UBC,” said Mahtani.

She calls these moments — “when strangers become friends” — moments of ‘creative serendipity,’ a term used by one of her mentors.

“That’s when incredible teaching moments happen — when you meet somebody and you don’t know what conversation you’re going to have,” she said. U

NEWS

november 27, 2018 tuESday

Editors Alex Nguyen + Zak Vescera

Academic freedom //

‘You’re too late’: Faculty, Wall scholars criticize Wall Institute restructuring in wake of director’s resignation

“I think you’re breaking something that you’ve called wonderful.”

Zak Vescera News Editor

“I’m here now,” said UBC President Santa Ono. “I’m here now and I’m listening to you and we’re taking feedback.”

“You’re too late,” responded Faculty Senator Philip Loewen.

Ono and other members of UBC’s administration are fielding intense criticism over a directive that faculty say is stripping the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (PWIAS) of its academic independence.

The directive would eliminate the majority of existing PWIAS programs and move the institute’s research under existing UBC research clusters to better align with the university’s strategic plan.

On November 20, PWIAS Director Dr. Philippe Tortell resigned in protest during a presentation to UBC unit leaders, saying that the directive would “completely remove [the PWIAS’s] independence.”

The decision was approved at a closed session of the PWIAS Board of Trustees, which includes Ono, two faculty representatives and two members of the Wall family.

Tortell and two Wall distinguished scholars, Dr. Derek Gregory and Dr. Brett Finlay, also complained they were not able to attend the closed meeting where the decision was made.

Ono said at the November 21 Senate meeting that the Board had consulted with Tortell and Wall scholars on the plan since September and it “should not have been a surprise.”

But on November 22, Finlay and Gregory released a statement criticizing the opaqueness of the directive and urging the PWIAS Board of Trustees to enact a strategic plan drafted by Tortell.

“The Directors Strategic Plan was arrived at through an extensive consultation — not least with our Faculty Associates, who know the work of the Institute best,” reads the letter.

Faculty, including over 20 Wall scholars, also wrote to voice their concerns.

“Many of us feel that academic freedom has already been violated by the directive that would force UBC researchers at the Institute to align with top-down mandated research clusters,” wrote current Wall Scholar Dr. Evan Thompson in a statement to The Ubyssey.

“My hope is that this directive will be withdrawn so that academic freedom will be fully and truly respected.”

Ono said in a public statement that he regrets Dr. Tortell’s decision to leave. He also “took ownership” over the lack of communication at Senate that evening.

“We could have as a board been more consultative,” he said.

Controversial clusters Former UBC President David Strangway, who co-founded the Institute, agreed with Peter Wall that it should be a place to “generate new ideas and initiatives that wouldn’t happen otherwise.”

“The Peter Wall Institute exists within a very special space within the university administrative structure,” said Tortell. “It does not belong to any other department, it does not belong to any other faculty.

“It exists above all the other silos — and that’s an important word — of the university, that inadvertently in many cases act as barriers to the free exchange of ideas.”

Elizabeth Wang

But under the new directive, PWIAS research would be folded into the portfolios of VP Research and Innovation Gail Murphy and VP Academic Andrew Szeri, who are both official observers on the Board of Trustees.

Wall scholars and associates worry that will remove what makes the Institute special. “... [W]e believe that every University need a place where scholars are encouraged to think outside the box (and the cluster),” reads the statement from Gregory and Finlay.

“There is of course room for clusters, but to limit the work of the Institute this way is as exclusionary as it is destructive.”

At the Senate meeting, Ono insisted that the flexibility of the 33 existing Research Excellence Clusters would not stifle the Institute’s research.

“There was a desire for more focus,” said Ono. “There was a sense among several Board members that even an institute of resources of the Peter Wall Institute has finite resources.”

PWIAS Faculty Representative Max Cameron added that moving the PWIAS under the clusters represents “an enormous opportunity” and that it will not threaten the Institute’s independence.

“There was never an intention to diminish that,” he said.

Some faculty raised concerns that Cameron and Dr. Judy Illes, the other faculty representative on the PWIAS Board, are both directly involved with research clusters.

Cameron leads a cluster entitled “Global Challenges to Democracy: Rights, Freedom and Self-Determination” and Illes is a researcher on “RESTORE (Regeneration and Stem Cells for

Organ Rejuvenation).”

“This is something wrong,” said Dr. Nassif Ghoussoub, a UBC Board of Governors faculty representative. “... They should have recused themselves from the decision.”

Cameron said that he and Illes fully disclosed their involvement in research clusters to the Board of Trustees and that they confirmed with staff that it did not constitute a conflict of interest.

“Both Judy and I immediately indicated that we are involved in research clusters,” he said.

“There’s no conflict of interest, everything was disclosed and there’s nothing improper there at all.”

Ghoussoub also questioned the decision to fold PWIAS funding into the clusters given that the existing Excellence Fund is “overflowing with money. “ “It’s the first administration to decide that the money going to this institute should support things being done by the central administration,” said Ghoussoub.

“So regardless of how great these programs are. ... Why are you going to pull some money from elsewhere?”

Gregory and Finlay’s letter calls for a “reconstituted Board of Trustees [to] reconsider the Strategic Plan for the Institute,” but does not directly name any specific Trustees.

At the Senate meeting, Ono stressed that moving the PWIAS under already-existing clusters was largely a matter of pragmatism.

“We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he said.

But Loewen and other faculty weren’t convinced. “I think you’re breaking something that you’ve called wonderful,” he said.

Pumping the brakes But as the backlash grows, trustees are pumping the brakes on controversial changes to the Institute.

On November 23, Ono issued a statement saying that Wall Scholars will not be required to align their work with existing university research, contrary to an earlier decision by the PWIAS Board of Trustees.

“The Wall Scholars 2019 program will also continue with the current criteria, review process and funding, and there is no expectation for Wall Scholars to align with existing Research Excellence Clusters,” he wrote.

Other cuts to the Institute’s programs included in the directive, like the elimination of the Wall Solutions Initiative or the International Research Roundtables programs, were not mentioned in the announcement.

A representative from PWIAS said that no changes have been set in stone. U

3

POUND THE ALARM //

File Will Macdonald

False fire alarms frustrate UBC residents Maneevak Bajaj Contributor

It’s 2 a.m. A fire alarm rings in residence and you’re forced to leave your comfortable bed to evacuate the building. It turns out to be a false alarm.

Sound familiar? If you live in residence, you’re lucky if it doesn’t.

According to a UBC report, a whopping 212 fire alarms were set off between November 2017 and November 2018. But only five actual fires were reported in UBC residences from 2014 to 2017.

Residents are getting tired of it.

“We just had a fire alarm at 5:30 in the morning,” said Aviral Saxena, a first-year student living in Orchard Commons. “... It was so cold outside and I didn’t even wear a jacket in a hurry. I could also see the front desk flooded with people who forgot their keys inside.”

Many students associate ‘false’ fire alarms with mischief. But Tiffany Mintah, associate director of residence life at Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS), said most occur due to detectors picking up harmless, localized sources of smoke. “[The] majority of these alarms are a result of people accidentally burning their food,” said Mintah. “They’re not malicious pulls by any means.”

She said the SHHS is taking measures to prevent false alarms, including educating residents about how to avoid triggering false alarms, like opening windows when preparing food that could create smoke. Students are also informed about the problems posed by fake alarms during the residence orientations and meetings.

Mintah was quick to clarify that false alarms are generally not intentional, but many students still believe they reflect a lack of consideration for neighbours.

Residence contracts explicitly mention that a student caught pulling the alarm out of malicious intent will be evicted.

Fire alarms triggered due to smoke resulting from food also leads to a penalty of two points in a student’s residence profile.

Accumulation of four of these points may also lead to termination of the contract.

Vancouver Fire and Rescue, which services the UBC area, did not respond to a request for comment by press time. U

4 | News | tuEsDAY november 27, 2018 equity //

Women, minorities poorly represented on list of best-paid UBC employees Rumneek Johal Contributor

UBC prides itself on being open to staff, faculty and students from all walks of life. But its financial statements show a clear lack of diversity at the top of the university’s payroll.

The wage gap between men, women and minorities seen at UBC’s top ranks mirror trends at the tops of corporations in other industries. According to this year’s Financial Information Act Report, people of colour made up only 26 per cent of UBC’s top 50 highest-paid staff. Only 20 per cent of those staff were women.

“We have blatant disadvantages at the top because disadvantage [and] privilege accumulates across careers,” said UBC Associate Professor of Sociology Dr. Elizabeth Hirsh.

In 2017, UBC’s highest-paid faculty and staff included Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Dermot Kelleher, UBC’s former President Arvind Gupta and UBC Properties Trust President and CEO Aubrey Kelly.

At the top of the list this year is UBC President and Vice Chancellor Santa Ono, who was paid $597,224 and who reported $155,299 in expenses.

The only woman to crack the top 20 was Sauder Professor Dr. Kai Li, who earned $465,063.

The average salary of the top 10 highest-paid men on the list was $502,539, whereas the average salary of the top 10 highest-paid women was $355,623.

These figures don’t include expenses, employment insurance and the Canada pension plan.

“A lot of what you see are subtle differences in the careers of men and women in academic organizations in terms of funding requirements — who is deemed competent for awards — and excellence may be recognized in a way that is gendered,” said Hirsh.

UBC says it is working to improve the representation of women at higher levels of university administration.

Steps are being taken “to [develop] more diverse pools of qualified candidates into the future so that there is increased

diverse representation in all roles at UBC,” said Dr. Jennifer Love, senior advisor to the provost on women faculty at UBC. Visible minorities are also disproportionately underrepresented in the higher end of UBC’s pay scale.

Only 26 per cent of the 50 highest-paid employees were people of colour, signalling inequities in access to top level positions.

Hirsh says that racialized employees face challenges in advancing in the workplace because of “implicit biases in assessments for awards, funding, and promotions,” that can accumulate over a career — even in institutions that welcome diversity.

To move from ideals to reality, Hirsh says UBC should aim for equity at all levels of the organization.

“Cultivating that leadership at lower-levels of the organization is important to be sure that women and racialized scholars are encouraged to seek out those lower-level leadership positions that would then propel them into higher-rank leadership positions later on in their careers,” said Hirsh.

SATELLITE CAMPUS //

FILE YUKO FEDRAU

Visible minorities are disproportionally underrepresented in the higher end of UBC’s pay scale.

UBC says it’s taking concrete steps to achieve pay equity at various levels within the university, like the recent appointment of Dr. Minelle Mahtani as the first-ever senior advisor to the provost on racialized faculty earlier this year.

“This new position will support our institutional commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in the scholarly

and leadership environment for faculty at UBC,” said Love.

But Hirsh says making greater equity and inclusion a reality is often easier said than done.

“The university has very much embraced the idea of diversity and the idea of equity, but actually turning that into an empirical reality is hard, [and] it requires hard work,” said Hirsh. U

LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES //

AMS hosts town hall, hears UBC says it’s too soon to commit to a potential Squamish expansion feedback on fall reading break

“It would be a great thing for Squamish.”

Mario Salazar Contributor

Local stakeholders are excited about the possibility of a new UBC campus in the District of Squamish — but the university says it’s far too early to tell whether this could become a reality.

In 2016, the UBC Clean Energy Research Centre and four Squamish-based organizations, including the District of Squamish, signed a statement of cooperation outlining the possibility of expanding the UBC master of engineering leadership in clean energy to the district.

UBC already maintains medical program sites and smaller educational programs beyond its two campuses in Point Grey and the Okanagan. But stakeholders in Squamish are hoping that a clean energy program could lead to an expanded UBC presence in the region.

“It would be a great thing for Squamish,” said Doug Race, acting mayor of Squamish.

Liangyan Zhou

“We already have Quest University, which the community has embraced. It’s been a real benefit and another campus from another institution would be perfect.”

He expects a new UBC campus would attract other high-tech businesses around the area, generating tax revenue and employment opportunities for the District.

“That’s the kind of commercial industrial relevance we would like to see,” he said.

A potential UBC campus would likely be located in Squamish’s Oceanfront lands, a large development project approved by the District two years ago.

Newport Beach Developments Limited Partnership, which own the rights to the project, are also parties part in the statement of cooperation with UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre.

However, its early stages still, giving us no definite answer to a possible third UBC campus in the District of Squamish.

“UBC makes a final decision on that and they will then bring

us their final development application to that area and we would then consider those and hopefully pass them”, said Race.

While feedback on the initiative has been positive thus far, Race acknowledged that it is difficult to make any promise without a firm commitment from UBC. In an October 2017 letter to Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training Melanie Mark, UBC President Santa Ono addressed the possible expansion to Squamish and acknowledged the interest of the municipality.

But he stressed it was far too early for the university to commit to a project. “[A]t this time it is premature to commit to a new campus or programmatic presence beyond UBC’s two campuses, the distributed medical program sites and our existing teaching, learning and research sites across the province,” reads the letter.

Ono also listed important considerations for the project including “the development of certainty around the financial stability of the program” and the need to liaise with Quest University, whose campus is also in the district.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training confirmed that “the Ministry has received no further application from UBC.” “[At] present, discussions of expanding UBC’s campuses, in Squamish or in other BC communities, remain preliminary and any proposals in this area would have to proceed through the appropriate approval processes within the university,” Kurt Heinrich, senior director of UBC’s media relations, wrote to The Ubyssey. U

Emma Livingstone Senior Staff Writer

The AMS’s town hall on fall reading break reminded students that changing the academic calendar to create a break in the first term is complicated. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Hosted on November 20 in the Nest, the event offered an opportunity for the AMS to explain the proposed changes required to accommodate a fall break and hear feedback from students.

“The only way that fall reading break is going to be possible is if we change some things in the schedule,” AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Max Holmes said, “and so that means there needs to be a conversation among students on … what we’re willing to give.”

The town hall began with a presentation on the possible changes and constraints by Holmes and Senate Academic Policy Committee Chair Dr. Paul Harrison.

A major ongoing logistical challenge has been UBC’s already low number of instructional days.

Harrison added that some programs, such as undergraduate engineering programs, have a required number of instructional days for each topic and would be affected by any cuts.

Students and instructors are also generally not in favour of cutting teaching days, according to Holmes.

“We haven’t really heard a push from students to lower the amount of instructional days, which would lower the amount of class time that they have,” he explained.

Starting the term early also has its own problems. An early start would require students to pay rent for August and might conflict with orientation programs.

Instead, Holmes said the main option would be to change the current exam schedule. This could

mean reducing the days between the end of term and start of exams, reducing exam blocks to two-hour periods to fit five exams in each day or holding exams on Sundays.

These options have their own constraints as well.

Reducing exams to twohour periods could extend the possibility of students receiving exam hardships. Meanwhile, Sunday exams could be costly to UBC because the university has to open buildings that would have otherwise been closed.

In the Q&A period, some students raised concerns about whether the break would extend to all programs, especially for engineering and graduate students. Holmes said the AMS’s goal is still to create a break for all UBC students.

He also reaffirmed the possibility of a fall break for the next academic year — but reiterated it may start out as a four- or five-day long weekend instead of a full week.

“It’s the exam period where we will hopefully be able to find room for 2019/20,” Holmes said.

“And then conversations about ‘How do we get the full week?’ will need to start after that because this is just a step in the direction ... towards getting a full fall reading break.”

Ultimately, while some information presented at the town hall is not new, Holmes said feedback from the event will help inform the final proposal to UBC’s Senate.

“This conversation has spanned a couple of years now and so what needs to happen is we need to be able to come up with a proposal now,” Holmes said to The Ubyssey.

“At this point, we need to be able to show that the Senate is able to get stuff done and is able to listen … to the needs of students, faculty and the wider university community.” U

CULTURE

NOVEMber 27, 2018 tuEsday

Editor Bridget Chase

5

community-led projects //

Decolonizing information and preserving knowledge with the Indigitization program Darby Lynch Contributor

Indigenous groups across BC have an opportunity to receive grant money for their local archival needs due to a groundbreaking project run through several institutions at UBC and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC).

Since 2010, this project, titled “Indigitization,” has provided interested communities access to information and technology for the preservation of their important records through digitzation.

Unfortunately, when many records were made decades ago, they were recorded on corrodible technologies like cassette tapes or old-school film reels. These technologies were useful at the time, but much information has since been lost due to natural destruction of the materials.

This initiative between the Irving K. Barber Library, the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), UBC’s School for Library, Archival and Information Studies and the Northern BC Archives at UNBC can grant up to $10,000 in matching funds to each community. There are a few government efforts that also work on digitizing Indigenous records such as the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Digitization project, but Indigitization has distinguished itself by utilizing “community-led projects.”

“Funding practices have been biased towards us as colonial institutions,” said Gerry Lawson, coordinator of the Oral History Language Lab at MOA and a leader of Indigitization, “so we’re really trying to build a community of practice, a community of people who do this and make UBC [as an institution] less important over time.

I think we’re accomplishing that.”

Indigitization subverts this colonized system by “facilitating that self-empowerment in terms of taking control of their technology.”

Lawson said that the LAC Digitization project grant money “is coming out of Canada’s language funding for Indigenous communities.” A lot of this money isn’t going directly to communties.

However, he adds that the LAC has also started programs like the Documentary Heritage Communities Program that are “really based around small heritage organizations locally.”

Indigitization subverts this colonized system by “facilitating that self-empowerment in terms of taking control of their technology” and breaks down the barriers Indigenous communities are still facing by enabling their proprietary. Traditional information will be handled by the people who actually own it.

“There’s a lot of digitization programs out there,” explained UNBC Archivist Erica HernandezRead. “But the problem with them is that they require that the information that has been digitized be made publicly accessible. And so that’s the problem, that’s the issue right there. You can’t do that. Not in a First Nations context.”

Indigitization gives communities the option to publish or keep their information private. Throughout most of the projects, communities have chosen to keep their information private. Some Indigenous groups have approached UNBC to store backup information on hard-drives without giving the university access, a rare request for archives to accept.

The steering committee, which currently only consists of two schools, is working on recruiting more institutions across the country and though they “haven’t had any biters yet,” they’re “forever hopeful,” said Hernandez-Read. Lawson said that the point of enlisting more institutions is “not about making a hierarchy or about franchising, it’s really about sort of just spreading resources and spreading a method of doing things.”

Hernandez-Read also emphasized that “it’s not that people aren’t interested, the interest is there, it’s the money.”

However, if a group is interested in this initiative for their own community and can’t get a grant, the project has published a freely accessible “Indigitization Toolkit,”

BRIDGET CHASE

which gives technical instructions for how to digitize information up to national standards.

“I think we’re sort of trying to build our own community, to give people the best advice that we can.

The funding it seems is probably going to be coming from different places … so the landscape will probably change quite a bit in the next little while,” said Lawson, who was hopeful about Indigitization and similar models becoming more prevalent in the future. “The information practices have to change.” u The 2019 Indigitization Grant Cycle is currently open, with applications due December 10. All information can be found in the grant section of their website, http://www. indigitization.ca.

academic GAPS //

Middle Eastern Engagement Collective aims to expand study opportunities by creating a new program in the faculty of arts

Riya Talitha Staff Writer

The roots of UBC’s Middle Eastern Engagement Collective (MEEC) were planted by Marcella Muse.

Muse, a fourth-year international relations (IR) student, discovered that she couldn’t continue her study of Modern Standard Arabic that she began on exchange because there weren’t any courses offered back home at UBC. “It was annoying and a bit of a bummer,” said Muse. She explained that this was a field that changed her life and so the lack of options posed a challenge.

Then, through word of mouth, she found other students facing similar academic gaps and with a desire to do something about it.

Muse, Marya Atassi, Ally Helprin, Natalie Arrmendares and Farrah H. Eiafifi now form MEEC’s executive team.

MEEC broadly aims to

create a Middle Eastern and North African region (MENA) studies program in the faculty of arts, expand study abroad opportunities in the region and modernizing the Arabic language courses available.

They wrote their program proposal during the month of October, working long hours and following the guidelines on new course approval — a process normally attempted by faculty.

To prove student demand, they came up with the innovative idea of developing and distributing a survey among the student population, which has since been submitted alongside their proposal.

Dr. Pheroze Unwallah, MEEC’s faculty advisor, said that there’s a lot of excitement among faculty because its purpose is not to “just to increase opportunities, but to increase interest in an area of the world that we care deeply about.”

“It adds value to our jobs as

professors when we see students so passionate about a region, its peoples and cultures,” he said.

Helprin, a third-year IR major said that the region poses a variety of educational opportunties. “... In a state sense, [it] is relatively new so there’s a lot to explore but then culturally it is so historic. So, you get both of these complementary ideas where you get to look at the history of a beautiful area but then you also get to look at how these new countries develop.”

“And what is development in the Middle East?’ Muse added, to general laughter and empathic agreement from the group.

As a collective, they have lots of plans for the future, hoping to collaborate with other campus groups that align with their advocacy.

“Come talk to us,” said Atissi.

“That’s how you can get involved and learn more.” U

FiILE GEOFF LISTER

6 | Culture | tuESDAY NOVEMber 27, 2018 writing from the belly //

“On becoming a writer” with Isabele Allende Riya Talitha Staff Writer

“I started [my career] as a feminist journalist in Chile … but I didn’t know the word. I was just angry at men in general,” said acclaimed Chilean author Isabel Allende. “According to my mother, it was a mental disorder.”

This informality and brief intimacy with a living legend is what makes UBC Connects special. The talk series was launched in January 2018 and the UBC events website describes the series as an effort to connect “the world’s bold thinkers” to the communities on campus.

On November 20 at the Franklin Yew Forum in Allard Hall, Allende gave a talk called “On becoming a writer.”

Allende responded to questions from the audience, many of whom seemed extremely emotional at being in such close proximity to a literary idol. Her advice on writing touched both on technical elements such as the importance of research and discipline, and on the

unquantifiable things that make writing an art.

“Fiction is something that happens in the belly, not the brain,” said Allende.

Allende was honest and warm, riffing off the audience easily.

At the age of 76, Allende was unafraid to poke fun at herself.

“I’m approaching senility! Don’t laugh, it’ll be you soon enough!”

She spoke about how her own family were angry at her for years after she fictionalised their lives in her books. At one point she urged the audience to watch the film based on her famous debut The House of Spirits over reading the actual book itself.

Even admist the lighthearted conversation, Allende didn’t hesitate to also take time and criticize the atrocities still impacting women in her own beloved Chile. Allende was adamant that activism can and should be firmly intertwined with literature.

“Everyone has a political position in the world that comes through in between the pages of their writing.” u

COURTESY UBC EVENTS

“I’m approaching senility! Don’t laugh, it’ll be you soon enough!”

power of the pamphlet //

“Vive la revolution!” at UBC Rare Books and Special Collections

ZAK VESCERA

During the French Revolution, these pamphlets were more dangerous than pistols.

Zak Vescera News Editor

A half-dozen battered books lie on a table, their thin spines marked with faded French writing.

Nowadays, they look harmless.

But during the French Revolution, these pamphlets were more dangerous than pistols.

The UBC Library’s French Revolution Collection has assembled and catalogued almost 200 pamphlets, plays and documents from between 1789 and 1799, creating a window into a decade of political turmoil that rocked Europe to its core.

“A single pamphlet in the collection won’t give you insights into every aspect of what was happening during the French Revolution,” said Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian Chelsea Shriver. “But it’s a really rich field once you pull everything together.”

Associate Professor Dr. Joël Castonguay-Bélanger will be teaching a course on the revolution next semester, where the collection will be part of the work.

“This is going to, I hope, offer a window of what it actually looked like on a daily basis to be living in Paris and seeing the interaction

between the public discourse, the speeches and the political context,” said Castonguay-Bélanger.

Power of the pamphlet These aren’t the kind of pamphlets you get handed on Imagine Day. During the French Revolution, lengthy pamphlets were the à la mode way of communicating the latest scandal, outrage or opinions.

Depending on who wrote them, pamphlets could be landmark treatises on the rights of human beings, collections of crude jokes that viciously ribbed politicians and kings or even calls for public

executions — some of which actually happened.

“There were thousands of texts that we know triggered political upset at the time,” said Castonguay-Bélanger.

Some of the documents in the collection — like pamphlets from then-journalist Camille Desmoulins and a report written by the infamous Maximilien Robespierre — defend the most violent parts of the Reign of Terror. Others were written by common people and journalists who took the newfound freedom of the press to new, often crass, extremes.

“There’s lots of swearing and often personal attacks against political actors of the time,” said Castonguay-Bélanger. “In a kind of funny way of speaking, they are in fact conveying very radical political sentiments.”

Those ideas never went away, and neither did the controversy.

Over 200 years later, the French Revolution continues to shape politics in France and across the world.

Castonguay-Bélanger notes that in 2014, when an installment of Assassin’s Creed was set against the revolution, it drew ire from left-wing politician Jean-Luc Melenchon, who argued the game was an unfairly violent characterization of the revolution’s ideals.

“Every politician in France has to position themselves in relation to the revolution,” said CastonguayBélanger. “What to make of the terror? What to make of a figure like Robespierre, who has become incarnate of the most bloody episode of the revolution?

There is no political figure who can not talk about that.”

But, Castonguay-Bélanger cautions that the revolution shouldn’t be reduced to the macabre. While “every student knows about Louis XVI and the guillotine,” the revolution was also the era of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the abolition of slavery and the revolution of the modern state.

“Any historian who reduces the revolution to one thing fails,” he said. “In every one of these pamphlets, there is something to investigate.” u The French Revolution Collection can be viewed at the Rare and Special Collections department of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.

features

NoVEMbER 27, 2018 tueSDAY

EditoR MOIRA WYTON

hunger g

a

p

rising food bank usage is just the tip of the food insecurity iceberg

read the full investigation here:

words alex nguyen art claire lloyd

http://ubyssey.ca/features/hunger-food-insecurity/

7

8 | Features | TUESDAY november 27, 2018

T

owards the end of last most students are not on the central locations like the Nest to summer, Kara — a UBC campus — but this year, we reach students.

There have also been numerous graduate student — was definitely saw the highest number food drive events in partnership struggling desperately to make we’ve ever seen,” she said.

In July this year, 54 students with campus groups, such as UBC ends meet.

Kara usually juggled visited the bank in comparison to Library’s Food for Fines during multiple part-time jobs, but said 56 in July 2017. But AMS Student which each donated item took $2 employment opportunities dried Services Manager Piers Fleming off the student’s library fines.

“We have more events and up during the summer. Her main pointed out that the Food Bank — employer had made a mistake in which is open only on Mondays and we’re partnering with groups on processing her payroll, delaying Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. campus, which in turn they’re also her paycheque by a month. Her — had to close on three occasions advertising the Food Bank more. So partner was on a full-time work that month because they fell on just through sheer exposure, more placement, but his position was public holidays. He said July 2018 people are knowing about it,” said could have seen as high as 120 Fleming. unpaid. visits, an increase of over 200 per She had to pay rent.

She had maxed out her credit cent from last year’s number.

“Hidden topic” card.

“There was just nothing left.”

On a campus with around 56,000 Hungry and unable to afford students, data on the AMS Food even close-to-expired produce, Bank’s usage indicates that food Kara, whose name has been insecurity affects just over 1.7 changed to protect her per cent of UBC students each privacy, turned to the year.

AMS Food Bank — a But that is probably not service she never true. thought she would “[It] is likely have to use. a significant ... Food banks actually give “[I]t came to the underestimate of the point where I was number of students some representation of the just like, ‘I know who are finding that there is this it difficult to feed issue — they’re the tip of the resource available themselves properly,” and I am hungry,’” said Dr. Graham iceberg for food insecurity. she said. “I used it Riches, professor about three or four emeritus and director times [during] that of the UBC School of — Dr. Graham Riches, professor period where I was Social Work between emeritus and former director of the really struggling.”

1998 and 2008.

UBC School of Social Work Kara’s struggle shows “That’s what the national that food insecurity — data shows — food bank data defined broadly as unreliable is not a good estimate of the access to sufficiently nutritious prevalence of food insecurity.” food — impacts students in deeper Data from a 2017 UBC ways than being forced to eat cup Social Ecological Economic Sidhu and Fleming attributed Development ramen. It is also far from rare.

Studies First opened in 2005, the the upward trend to the high cost (SEEDS) survey, which AMS Food Bank — an emergency of living in Vancouver — a city studied UBC’s land food relief service that allows infamous for its housing costs — and food systems any person with UBC student and increased awareness about the (LFS) undergraduate identification up to six visits per Food Bank on campus. students, supports his “We don’t want to make people claim. Just over four term — has grown year-over-year.

The service saw 751 visits in the feel like they are being [pushed] to per cent of respondents first 9 months of 2018 and “one come to the service … so the only reported having accessed of the craziest summers” in its way we can reach the population emergency food programs, history, according to Coordinator of those who are food insecure is while at least ten per cent say to reach everybody,” said Sidhu. they had gone hungry because they Simran Sidhu.

“Usually we have quite low She said the service sets up a booth couldn’t afford food. usage in the summer just because at events like Imagine Day and in One reason for this gap could be

“

”

the existing lack of awareness about the Food Bank amongst groups on campus, despite the AMS services’s ongoing effort to raise its profile.

“I’m a pretty social person and have a wide network — and I’d say that every single person I’ve told that we have a food bank, not one of them knew that we did,” said Blake Smith, a PhD candidate in arts education and another former Food Bank client.

“Not one.”

Smith added that she found it difficult to locate the service — which was then housed in the basement of the old Student Union Building (SUB) — because of its “discrete signages.” Kara remembers having to ask another club for directions to the Food Bank, which was then on the Nest’s second floor due to the SUB reconstruction, on her first visit.

Since then, the service has moved to the Life Building’s basement, tucked around an isolated corner.

But Smith and Kara also recognized the desire for privacy, as they described the stigma that exists around accessing food banks — another reason that the data might be skewed.

“There’s a sense of shame and guilt initially because I kept thinking, ‘What more could I have done,’ or ‘What did I do wrong,’ or, ‘What happened?’” said Kara.

“At first, I was embarrassed, I felt shame, I felt inadequate,” Smith echoed, noting how she used to flip the Food Bank bags inside out. She added that some might decide not to go because they feel its resources should be reserved for those struggling more than them.

Riches attributed this stigma to society’s emphasis on selfreliance, where “charity is not a right.”

“It’s the stigma of welfare because ... society is saying that you should stand on your own two feet, you should pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps,” he explained.

“Food in our society is also taken

november 27, 2018 tuESDAY | features | 9

for granted. We all think that everyone is eating okay and can afford to eat.

It is a hidden topic and food banks actually give some representation of the issue — they’re the tip of the iceberg for food insecurity.”

After their visits though, Kara and Smith both expressed gratitude toward the Food Bank and its staff, adding that the service helped empower them.

“It helped me a lot because it made me feel dignified in a way, like I deserve to eat a proper meal … When I came home with all the groceries, I just felt so grateful and really happy,” said Kara who is now “doing fairly well” with multiple jobs and a bursary from UBC, in the application for which she mentioned having had to access the Food Bank.

“Rent plus gas plus tuition” It’s not a coincidence that both Food Bank clients who spoke to The Ubyssey are graduate students.

Graduate students are “disproportionately more affected” by food insecurity, according to Fleming.

A 2018 SEEDS study found the most frequent users of the AMS Food Bank to be off-campus graduate students who are also supporting dependents.

The study also found that international students and students who live on-campus are overrepresented in food bank client demographics.

The first two trends mirror Smith’s own experiences.

When visiting the Food Bank, the PhD candidate was working multiple jobs but faced gaps between paycheques during academic term turnovers. At the time she had just moved from the United States and knew no one in Vancouver except her two dogs.

All these factors were then exacerbated by the high costs of studying and living in Vancouver.

“Rent plus gas plus tuition …

This doesn’t even include money for books, conference travel [or] new gear like a laptop,” Smith said. “I’m a big fan of resilience so I wouldn’t want to share with you a victim story. It’s not like that — but I do think people struggle.”

Only nine per cent of graduate

respondents to a Graduate Student Society survey reported feeling satisfied with the cost of living and only 34 per cent with their funding.

Following her and others’ experiences with financial struggles, Smith said she decided to include information about the Food Bank in graduate student orientation presentations.

“I came to a point where I decided there’s not shame around [accessing the Food Bank] — it’s just a point in your life and your experience when you needed a little help,” she said.

“People were really happy that I shared that. I could tell, I really could tell.”

Zooming out Looking below the surface, food insecurity among university students emerges as even more of a staggering issue.

Dr. Candice Rideout, the LFS senior instructor on the 2017 SEEDS study, explained this problem can range from mild food insecurity — or being anxious about affording food — all the way to severe insecurity, which means actually going hungry because one lacks access to food.

According to the study, 35 per cent of LFS undergraduate students had experienced mild or moderate food insecurity and 10 per cent were in the severe category.

Those who are severely food insecure are not only more likely to have health problems, but also face impacts on their academic performance and well-being.

“If people can’t eat, they can’t study, they can’t be well,” Smith said.

“I can’t tell you the kind of stress when someone’s hungry and they can’t eat.

It’s hard.”

Rideout also cautioned against dismissing the milder forms of food insecurity.

“Anxiety about [food insecurity] is still super significant — especially when students already have an ongoing stress load about the many competing demands in their life,” she said.

The 2018 AMS Academic Experience Survey found that 17 per cent of undergraduate and graduate

students expressed monthly concerns being at UBC Student Housing and about running out of money to buy Hospitality Services, the scholar on food in the past year, putting them the project is currently conducting in the mild category. These figures a literature review to determine the jump to 37 per cent of undergraduate specific questions and a methodology students and 42 per cent of graduate for the baseline survey. The survey students for those who expressed this will then be sent out early in the next concern at least once in the 12 months. academic year, and Baker expects data “I’d say it probably did surprise me to be compiled and analyzed by the that [the number] was as high as it is,” end of the next fall semester. “.We are trying to get a very UBCRideout said about the total figure of food insecurity from the SEEDs study. specific number, but I’d be surprised if “That being said, it is comparable to it was much different than around 40 per cent,” she said, referencing what we see at other universities data from Rideout’s [in Canada, the US and SEEDS study and the Australia] so it’s not Meal Exchange surprising in that report. sense.”

U l t i m a t e l y, In particular, what these a 2016 report “[I]t came to the point where statistics by Meal amount to Exchange — I was just like, ‘I know that is that the a non-profit there is this resource availprevalence of organization able and I am hungry.’” food insecurity that supports a m o n g s t students’ — Kara, graduate student and university food security former AMS Food Bank client students is three initiatives — to five times showcases this higher than it is common trend among the general across Canada with population. their survey of five Calling this trend “quite universities: Dalhousie, Brock, Lakehead, the University of Calgary common,” Rideout speculated the reason to be about income. Aside from and Ryerson.

Like at UBC, around two in five the fact that some are not supported by students at these universities are their parents, university students are food insecure. The breakdown also limited in how much they can work between moderate and severe food while attending school and the jobs insecurity is also similar, with 30.7 they can get without a degree. They are per cent of students surveyed faced also bombarded by both living expenses milder forms of insecurity, while 8.3 and university-related ones, like tuition, per cent have experienced severe books and supplementary fees.

“It’s basically just all around the insecurity.

The self-reported reasons income ratio to expense ratio,” she said.

But even with numerous data contributing to food insecurity are also alike: tuition fees, housing pointing to the urgency of this issue, costs and food costs. Almost half of could we ever find the root of the food respondents said they have had to insecurity iceberg if some students forgo healthy food to pay for rent, make ends meet by creating future financial insecurity? tuition and textbooks.

“To what extent can I be considered Since there is only a patchwork of data on this issue at UBC, the university’s food secure when I’m purchasing food nutrition working group is now everything with my student loan?” supporting a SEEDS project to map the Rideout recalled of one response to baseline of food insecurity, not just for her study’s survey. “... I’m just indebting myself in the students, but also staff and faculty.

According to Melissa Baker, future so I can buy my food today, but manager of nutrition and well- I’m going into debt.” U

“

”

10 | FeAtureS | tueSDAY NoVEMbER 27, 2018

ubc

an affordable food map of

seedlings An offshoot of Sprouts, Seedlings — a student volunteer-run eatery — offers affordable vegan and vegetarian food and drinks that are all below $4. Their most expensive items are lunch items like curry bowls, which are offerred starting at 11:30 a.m.

It’s recommended that customers bring their own containers and mugs to avoid waste.

Seedlings is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

It’s located in the penthouse of the Thea Koerner House (6371 Crescent Road).

ams food bank The AMS Food Bank provides free access to mainly non-perishable food like canned meat, canned soup, cereal and more. It also stocks baby products and female hygiene products.

To access the service, students just need to show their student card without having to prove income level or needs. Individual customers are allowed one bag of groceries per visit, while families are allowed two bags. Every student gets up to six visits per term.

The Food Bank is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. It’s located in room 0032 in the basement of the Life Building.

sprouts community eats A Sprouts initiative, Community Eats is another student-run program that offers vegetarian hot lunch by donation. It’s required that you bring your own container and cutlery.

Community Eats currently takes place every Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Walter Gage Residence Commonsblock. Since it used to be housed under Sprouts Cafe, the cafe’s upcoming re-opening could change the program’s location.

agora cafe Agora — yet another student-run cafe — offers affordable food and drinks that are all below $4. Customers can get a discount if they bring their own containers and mugs, and there are small “green taxes” for takeout coffee cups and containers.

The cafe is cash only.

Agora is open from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays between September and April.

It is housed on the lower level of the HR MacMillan Building (2357 Main Mall).

Prior to its temporary shutdown due to space complications, Sprouts — a student volunteer-run cafe — serves affordable vegan and vegetarian food. The cafe is expected to reopen in the Life Building’s basement at the end of term.

ubc farm market The UBC Farm market offers a wide array of vendors selling produces, meat, eggs, baked goods, coffee and more. UBC students can get a 20 per cent discount with their student card.

Between June and November, there are three markets per week: Two at the Farm and one near the Bookstore. This year’s markets are unfortunately already over.

OPINIONS

november 27, 2018 Tuesday

Editor tristan wheeler

11

#freestudentpress //

Editorial: MP Kerry Diotte shows his true colours in coming after student press The Ubyssey Editorial Board

You’d think an elected Member of Parliament would have better things to do than sue a student newspaper.

Recently, reporting by the University of Alberta’s (U of A) student paper The Gateway was met with a lawsuit alleging defamation of Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for EdmontonGriesbach Kerry Diotte.

In our view, a lawsuit is not a proportional response to unflattering coverage of an elected official. It’s also not good for freedom of speech and of the press.

After the U of A Students’ Union President Reed Larsen tweeted a photo of himself smiling with Diotte in late October, a fierce debate over Diotte’s politics was ignited at the university. Many called the photo an endorsement by Larsen of Diotte’s politics, which have been characterized as racist by many critics of the MP. Diotte — who was a journalist and columnist for many years before he entered politics — wrote a variety of columns that critics have interpreted as racist, including one where he called refugees from the Czech Republic coming to Canada “gypsies.” Of particular interest to

recent critics was his association with former far-right Rebel Media reporter Faith Goldy, who recently ran for mayor in Toronto and has been called a white nationalist.

In response to this criticism, Diotte threatened legal action for defamation against numerous current and former students for their tweets on the controversy, many of them students of colour.

After The Gateway covered the controversy and wrote an editorial on Larsen’s actions, Diotte’s lawyer contacted the publication on November 15 to refute some claims made in the articles, alleging the paper failed to properly contextualize the reasons for Diotte’s suit and falsely claimed that he explicitly supported Goldy’s recent mayoral campaign.

Even after amendments were made and editor’s notes added to each of the articles, Diotte filed a lawsuit alleging defamation against the student publication on November 19.

Student media is real media, and should be held to the same journalistic standards. As the Canadian University Press wrote in its statement on the matter, “We take accusations of

defamation seriously, and expect our members to do the same.” So do we at The Ubyssey, and that means updating coverage when clarification is needed.

The Gateway was quick to amend allegedly defamatory statements about Diotte. In normal circumstances, the editorial would leave this experience as stronger journalists and that would be the end of it.

But Diotte’s continued legal action, in our opinion, seems to be an unnecessarily punitive way of teaching The Gateway a lesson to perform a duty it has already fulfilled.

We don’t claim to be experts on The Gateway’s financials. But we’re well aware that student newspapers do not have the same legal or financial resources as major publications. Like us, The Gateway is largely funded by a levy charged to each student.

Legal fees incurred by this suit could potentially be devastating to the paper’s operations for many years to come. That means that students at the U of A may end up indirectly bearing part of the fees incurred by Diotte’s motion — which seems counterintuitive to the public interest.

FILE BRIAN TURNER/FLICKR

A continued lawsuit, in our view, is not a productive way of mediating this dispute.

As an elected official Diotte has a responsibility to uphold a certain standard of conduct and to use his time judiciously to represent his constituents. Filing a lawsuit that bullies students and student journalists — many of whom probably reside in his riding — is poor practice for someone elected to serve his community members, no matter their politics.

Normally, this is when we’d hope all those freedom of speech advocates show up. But it seems they’re nowhere to be found.

The right to criticize figures of authority in the public realm

is an integral one, even when it is overstepped. Diotte has already threatened to file a number of similar defamation claims against private individuals who have criticized him online, many of them young people of colour. This represents a pattern of punching down on public critics that is unbecoming for anyone, especially an elected official.

A continued lawsuit, in our view, is not a productive way of mediating this dispute and is certainly not in the best interest of promoting freedom of speech — not just for The Gateway, but for media as a whole. U

asking //

Ask Pawan: I want to be more inclusive of gender identities

It is not your right to know how someone identifies.

Pawan Minhas Advice Columnist

“Dear Pawan, I’m new at UBC. There are a lot of cultural differences that I’m unused to, especially when it comes to gender identification. I want to be more inclusive — what do I need to know?”

Coming to Vancouver opened my eyes to a host of new experiences — new foods, friends, streets and signs were abundant in every corner of the city. I was thrilled with each discovery. Unfortunately, I was also woefully unprepared for the culture shock that came with adding myself to the mosaic of people that make up the city, especially when it came to matters of the gender spectrum.

From a combination of personal experience and the counsel of others, here’s my advice.

The first thing I recommend you do is try to extricate yourself from thinking in a binary when it comes

MAGED

to gender. Gender has been seen as an incredibly nuanced spectrum for decades and you’ll have to keep in mind that outward appearances like manner of dress or physical characteristics don’t necessarily signal someone’s gender identity.

Whether someone identifies as a man or a woman, nonbinary, genderfluid, transgender or by another term is a very personal part of their life and should be treated with respect and tact, rather than assumption and confrontation. It is also not your right to know how someone identifies.

This leads to my second bit of advice: asking someone their preferred pronouns, even when you’re 99 per cent sure, never hurts. If you’re wondering about someone you just passed on the street, I’m willing to go on a limb to say that it’s not imperative that you can confidently identify their preferred pronouns, so don’t make it your business. When it comes to folks you may have more consistent

face-to-face interaction with, such as coworkers or someone in your tutorial, it’s important that you get it right. Some people are totally fine with explicity telling you their gender identity and wouldn’t mind shouting their preferred pronouns from the top of the Ladner Clock Tower. However, there are also a lot of folks who aren’t okay with being asked how they identify, especially in a public setting where they may be unsure of how every single person in the room would react. Asking someone their preferred pronouns in a private, respectful manner is a safe way to make sure you are reaffirming their gender identity and not basing your interactions on assumptions.

Thirdly, when in doubt or without the opportunity to ask, use the singular “they/them” to refer to someone whose pronouns you do not know for certain. As time goes on and the concept of a gender binary continues to erode, use of gender-neutral pronouns in everyday language is on its way up. You wouldn’t be gawked at if you simply referred to your lab partner using “they/them/theirs” pronouns or perhaps their name, if you’re unsure of what they prefer. This also serves to help put emphasis on someone’s chosen name, and the importance of respecting that.

Pay attention to someone’s chosen name. Changing one’s name is a tool that is often, though not always, used to reaffirm one’s gender identity to the world around them, often leaving one’s previous name as the “dead name.” If you’ve known someone before they chose the name that better fits who they feel they are, you may find yourself slipping

up and accidentally saying their dead name. It’s important that you don’t let this stop the flow of conversation, but also don’t skate by it. If you F-up, own it: say sorry, correct yourself and don’t go over the top with your apologies as that situation can end with the person you slighted feeling obligated to console you. Name usage is a simple, very accessible tool one can use to reassert one’s identity to the world around them.

The last piece of advice I have is about reflecting upon and challenging your preconceived notions of gender identity. Too often, someone’s excuse for not respecting someone’s pronouns is that they are “too confusing” or seem like a “first-world problem,” to which I have a nice, hot take: read a book. Gender identity has been a topic of discourse and dissent across all continents for longer than many realize. As I tried to become more conscientious of issues around gender identity, I found that reading up on the underreported, morose history of freedom of gender expression movements really entrenched an appreciation for the importance of respecting someone’s gender identity. When so many people fought so hard for their right to simply exist without persecution, the very least anyone could do is read up on the efforts that got us to where we are today, to understand how far we have to go.

Discussions on gender are only going to become more common as we move farther from the rigidity of binary identities and fully embrace the concept of gender as a spectrum. This is why I wish to stress that this article is not

even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to discourse on gender and the nuances of identity. This article is simply meant to give you a few tips that you can incorporate into your daily life while you strive to do your own research on the topic.

This is not something that you can learn on a Googling spree — time, patience and respect should be kept at the forefront when trying to better your understanding of gender identity. To help you along, there are plenty of resources that work hard to ensure that inclusivity education is readily available. From UBC’s Pride Collective to the Vancouver nonprofit Q-munity, there is a variety of inclusivity resources at your fingertips, so you don’t place the work on your friends to explain their identities to you.

Inclusivity is something that you may never really think about because you may think it doesn’t apply to you or that, y’know, you’re pretty open and would never mean to insult someone’s gender identity. The reality is that many members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community have to think about inclusivity a lot, partly because it is a more dangerous world out there for them simply because of who they are. You can tap into their expertise on issues of inclusivity by researching relevant authors, cracking open a book and going in with good intentions and an eagerness to learn. U Uni problems? Unique answers. Send your questions in to advice@ubyssey. ca, or anonymously at ubyssey.ca/ advice!

FROM THE BLOG

november 27, 2018 tuesday

Editor Tristan Wheeler

12

resolve to be back early //

How to celebrate New Year’s Eve when you have to be back to UBC on January 1 I’ve devised some ways we can celebrate NYE anyways.

be Stone cold sober In doing so, you can ensure this really will be the most memorable NYE of all time. You’ll remember all the hors d’oeuvres, outfits and conversations. You’ll remember how self-conscious, vulnerable and out of place you felt as your intoxicated friends and family who don’t have to travel back to university dance around you care-free.

Pull an all-nighter

If you’ve avoided the SSC over the break, take this precious time to reflect.

Tait Gamble Staff Writer

If your 2019 New Year’s resolution is to hit the ground

running, you will. Term 2 of the 2018/19 school year starts on January 2. The pressure of flight itineraries, packing and — not to mention — those new term jitters,

FILE GEOFF LISTER

may put many of our ‘traditional’ New Years Eve plans in jeopardy.

Nevertheless, in the name of nostalgia, merriment and getting the most out of your winter break,

Ring in the new year at 12 a.m., and then stay awake. This will allow you to make the most out of your last few moments of winter break and the most out of the first hours of 2019. Perhaps most importantly, it will also help you figure out if you can still pull all-nighters and function the next day like last term.

Log onto SSC If you’ve avoided the SSC over the break, take this precious time to reflect on your academic

performance, reconsider your academic pathway and make some impulsive course changes.

As you tentatively type “ssc” into your browser and enter your campus-wide login, grab yourself a noisemaker and another cheese puff and cruise the course calendar surrounded by family and friends.

Set some resolutions for 2019 While your friends and family play games, laugh and be merry, set yourself up in a corner and draft some resolutions for the year. Be they academic, social or personal, write whatever comes to mind on a nearby hostess napkin. Maybe you’ll follow through this year?

Sleep If you can’t engage in the typical NYE festivities, take part in the festivity you’ll miss most in about a week — sleep. There will always be other New Years Eves, right?!

Sleep through this one and wake up to 2019 (and your 5 a.m. flight) bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. U

holiday marathon //

Nine holiday movies to get you through finals Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy and Kiera Knightley. Hugh Grant shakes his toosh. There’s a plethora of turtle necks. And, there’s an incredible Grant monologue about Heathrow airport.

The New The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

It’s that time of year again.

Lucy Fox Sports Editor

It’s that time of year again. Sirius XM has “Holly” on channel four, Christmas Starbucks drinks are all over campus and you can almost smell the tree lots being set up.

The holidays are coming up, and with it comes holiday cheer and a weird overwhelming need to spend time with family and friends whenever possible — apparently the magic of snow and cuffing-season are at work.

FILE ABBIE WILSON

Here are a few Christmas flicks we think are worth an evening with loved ones, from Tinder date, to roommates to best mates.

The Old Home Alone Who doesn’t love some good holiday shenanigans? A good watch if you are in need of some fun holiday ideas or, alternatively, escape route plans after your tense family dinners.

White Christmas Great music, fantastic costumes (anyone remember those Santastyle dresses at the end of the movie? Amazing!), Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney and lots more. They also, of course, sing “White Christmas” by our boy Bing.

Love, Actually It’s got high and lows. It features some British ‘royalty’ including Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant,

struggling photographer, find love?

If anything, it has Kat Graham from The Vampire Diaries in it, and Randall’s biological dad from This Is Us. It came out on November 2 — still haven’t watched it in all honesty.

The bottom-shelf beauties Last Holiday

The big-budget holiday film of the year. Though critics are saying it fell flat given the amount of money Disney poured into it, the well-known saga of Clara and the Mouse King is reinvented here with a new-era Alice in Wonderland feel. Lots of colour, creativity and magic — and it’s already out in theatres.

Is this a holiday film? We’re not totally sure. She ends up in a snowsuit somewhere and then in a pretty red holiday dress at a party.

It has that classic heartwarming festive storyline to it where love is all that truly matters. And there’s a damn good festive spread. Plus who can say no to Queen Latifah — really.

The Grinch

Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire

It’s nothing new to the Christmas movie scene. The first iteration, the animated TV-movie classic, came out in 1966. Thirty-four years later, the Jim Carey live-action version came out. Has this storyline been exhausted? Apparently not. On November 9, 2018, the 3D-animated version was released, featuring the sweet sweet British voice of Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch. If you are a ’Batch fan, an animation lover or a holidayaholic, check this one out.

If you enjoy claymation, Wallace and Grommit-style films, Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire is definitely one to check out. Rudolph’s son, Robbie, is put up to the test of the Reindeer games in honour of his father — though he is nowhere near prepared. It’s funny and witty and has some typical English humour that really hits well. Bonus: there are two more parts in this series!

The true winner

The Holiday Calendar

Elf

Another Netflix holiday film, this one looks to be about an old, magical Christmas calendar.

Will it help the main character, a

“Good news, I saw a dog today.”

Candy for breakfast. Zooey Deschanel. Speedy elfin work ethics. Need I say more? U

SCIENCE

novemBER 27, 2018 tuesday

Editor JAMES VOGL

13

sustainable construction //

New wooden structure on UBC campus pushes boundaries of robotic fabrication Nivretta Thatra Contributor

A structure of dichotomies now sits between Neville Scarfe and Sauder. This bendy, wavyyet-solid wooden work — aptly named Wander Wood — is likely the most artistic and intentionally designed bench on campus.

The creative efforts of students and faculty in UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), industry professionals and a swivelling robot were all required to assemble Wander Wood. Over a period of three days in October, UBC Associate Professor Dr. AnnaLisa Meyboom taught a workshop with Oliver Lang, director of technology at Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture — a Vancouver-based design firm — and Assistant Professor Dr. David Correa from the University of Waterloo.

Funding came from the province’s Forestry Innovation Investment, along with sponsorship from UBC Sustainability.

The workshop was sold out and “highly sought-after,” said Jason Chui, managing director at the Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) and an organizer for the event.

There aren’t many designand-build workshops like the one at UBC, which allowed participants hands-on experience

with planning and executing a robotically fabricated structure in a span of three days.

An undeniable draw for the workshop was, of course, learning how to work with the robot stationed in CAWP. Typical robots have six axes, but because the one at UBC sits on a horizontal tract, it adds one additional axis. Along with a table that turns, there are eight axes that it operates on.

“Students really want to work with this particular robot because of the workable area and the size that we have with this machine.

Technically the structure we could put up … could be up to 10 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 3 or 4 feet deep.

It’s quite a machine that we’ve got here,” said Chui, speaking on behalf of his colleague Jörn Dettmer who is more heavily involved in running the robot.

Having direct access to advanced design techniques and actually assembling something with the robot gives students a key understanding of the limitations and potentials of the system, said Meyboom. “You learn by doing a lot,” she said.

Going into the workshop and in thinking about the design of Wander Wood, Meyboom wanted to experiment with the future language of digital fabrication with wood. Nowadays, architects are incorporating new software in their workflow, which changes the design process. “If you change

how you design, then you change the language of the design and what comes out at the end,” said Meyboom.

In the workshop, participants used software with a graphical interface to design the parts of Wander Wood. Since participants were either students in Meyboom’s nine-credit SALA course or industry professionals, they were already quite familiar with the software. What the workshop taught them was how to generate a text file in the language that the robot can read — essentially, participants learned how to give the machine instructions for how to build what was designed by humans.

Wander Wood’s particular design was another aspect of experimentation as the workshop explored the balancing act between wood’s elasticity and rigidity.

When wood comes out of the mill, it is usually a straight plank, called a member. Experts have found that they can use wood’s elastic bending range to shape it, as long as they have an understanding of how to work with unique variables like grain direction. Meyboom and her colleagues led students in learning how to harness the elastic properties of wood to make curved surfaces.

“You need to have [the wood] be flexible enough to make the curved shape but stiff enough so it actually

“I would emphasize the potential of wood to be the material of the century.”

participates in the structure,” Meyboom said.

Wood’s flexible ability to act as structure, finish and furniture, along with its sustainable aspects as a renewable resource, was highlighted by both Chui and Meyboom. Wander Wood, with its eye-catching curvature and seating area, showcases these properties perfectly.

“I would emphasize the potential for wood to be the material of this century,” said Meyboom. “The question is what [else] can [wood] do?”

GHIBLI TAN

Research and experimentation will help answer this key question.

For the experts who organized the workshop, bringing students into experimentation is a way of continuing to push the boundaries of digital fabrication. Plans are definitely in place for another workshop next year.

Members of the UBC community and visitors can look forward to another public display like Wander Wood, which allows outsiders a direct opportunity to engage with the innovations in architecture on campus. U

ex machina //

Peter Wall Institute talk touches on the relationships between AI and emotion

The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies hosted Dr. Rosalind Picard at the Vogue Theatre.

Micah Killjoy Staff writer

Earlier this month, hundreds of Vancouverites came from all over the city to listen to MIT Professor Dr. Rosalind Picard lecture on engineering artificial intelligence (AI) to understand human emotion.

The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies hosted Picard at the Vogue Theatre, where she spoke on her research with affective computing — AI that can recognize and simulate human emotion — and her recent applications of that technology to medicine.

COURTESY PETER WALL INSTITUTE

Picard went over several different applications of AI in her talk, including the initial work of adapting computers to read human emotion and possibly prevent spirals into depression.

She also discovered a correlation between increased stress signals in the arm and epileptic seizures.

This led to wristbands that inform caretakers of a patient’s seizure within moments of its beginning.

Simply having people present directly after a seizure reduces the chance of death, so this technology can help improve patient outcomes.

After her talk came a Q&A session that touched on a variety of contentious topics, including some of the more dystopian potential of her research. For example, a customer service AI programmed to respond to every irritated customer who has a scowl and increased heart rate could also be programmed to try to manipulate those consumers.

There is also a fear that this technology could empower corporations to pry beyond what we’re comfortable with. Picard stressed the importance of our own engagement in ensuring our privacy and understanding of technology.

“I urge people to find out what kind of data is being collected and where it’s going,” Picard said. “Ask questions … Where are we going with this [technology]? What is the future we want?”

Dr. Phillipe Tortell, thendirector of the Peter Wall Institute, agreed with the importance of education, especially on controversial issues.

In an interview with The Ubyssey, he discussed how the Peter Wall Talks are intended to raise the bar on public discourse and help the audience be more knowledgable when discussions about thorny

topics arise in government legislation or corporate ethics.

Tortell said he wants the talks to become “... a Canadian institution on par with the Massey Lectures and the Munk Debates.”

The lectures are in a purposeful central location for ease of access and the speakers are chosen from solicitations of experts in their field.

“We think about areas that are particularly topical and areas that are potentially synergistic with other things that are going on at the Institute.”

Tortell added that the Institute will host an international conference on drug policy and harm reduction next spring, and will be bringing in an expert on these topics. (The Wall Exchange Talks are slated to be cut following a November 16 directive from the Institute’s Board of Trustees.)

“I’m thinking at the moment about areas that people really care about and people really need guidance and expert advice on those areas … [It’s] a really important way that people take that information and use it in a way that’s important for them.”

On the SkyTrain home from the Vogue, an older woman sat by me, hovering over her iPad. She was doing exactly what Tortell envisioned — leaving the event and immediately educating herself more about Picard and relevant topics.

By Tortell’s standards, the event was a success. U

SPORTS+REC

novemBER 27, 2018 tuesday

Editor Lucy fox

14

ATHLETICS INFRASTRUCTURE //

‘Surpassed its useful life-cycle’: Aging UBC sports facilities may never meet accessibility standards, despite retrofitting Marissa Bernie Senior Staff Writer

In the past few years UBC has welcomed several new sport and recreation facilities — from the innovative Aquatic Centre to the 8,000-square-foot ARC fitness centre — as it strives to meet a critical need for recreation space on campus.

With the new buildings comes the addition of improved accessibility features ranging from ramps to powered doors, elevators and an aquatic lift.

But the reality is that UBC’s aging sport facilities may never meet the physical accessibility standards of newer buildings, according to Kavie Toor, UBC Rec senior director of facilities, recreation and sport partnerships.

“There’s limited work you can do in an older infrastructure,” said Toor. “Some of the older buildings won’t necessarily reach the gold standard the Aquatic Centre has achieved, that the Tennis Centre has achieved, in terms of accessibility.”

According to the Campus and Community Planning website, the 67-year-old War Memorial Gym “has surpassed its useful lifecycle” and “requires significant renovation to meet operational, accessibility and functional needs.”

Toor said UBC Athletics is hoping to revitalize the gym as part of UBC Game Plan, a 20-year strategy designed to improve the limited, overcrowded and aging

recreation facilities on campus.

In the meantime, it remains “the least accessible of all the [sport] facilities,” he said.

In 2014, the Centre for Sport and Sustainability (CSS) released an accessibility report in partnership with UBC Athletics & Recreation, Conferences and Accommodation and the Office of the Vice-President, Students.

CSS used Planat, an online accessibility tool developed by the Rick Hansen Foundation, to issue an accessibility score for each venue used at the Special Olympics in 2014.

The report found a gap in physical accessibility between newer and older buildings.

Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, which received a score of 3.2 out of 5, was renovated in advance of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

War Memorial received 3.0, the second-lowest rating of the venues that were surveyed. There is only one fully accessible entrance to the building, and spectators who use a wheelchair cannot access the bleachers.

The 51-year-old Thunderbird Stadium scored 2.9 due to inaccessible pathways, washrooms, seating and service counters.

Toor said Athletics and Recreation made changes based on the report’s recommendations, such as retrofitting ramps and improving signage.

UBC must adhere to the BC Building Code and its

In 2014, War Memorial Gym was ranked UBC’s second-least accessible sports venue on campus.

accessibility requirements. Older buildings weren’t designed with accessibility in mind, and it wasn’t until the 1970s that disability rights advocates helped usher in province-wide regulations.

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 18045

Public Open House

MacInnes Field and Public Realm Upgrades

ADVERTISEMENT

Join us on Tuesday, November 27 to view and comment on the proposed MacInnes Field and adjacent public realm upgrades in the University Boulevard precinct.

Date: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Times: 11:00AM - 1:00PM Place: Lobby, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Boulevard

Campus and Community Planning, which is responsible for planning, designing and regulating buildings on campus, follows the principle of universal design — a set of seven accessibility guidelines which mandate designers to consider equitable, flexible, simple, perceptible, intuitive, easy-to-use and spacious accessibility features.

Toor said that while UBC Recreation embraces the concept of universal design and continues to improve its facilities, physical upgrades are not the only approach toward inclusive recreation on campus.

RYAN NEALE

UBC Rec offers intramural parasports, including wheelchair basketball and rowing, and made its annual Storm the Wall event wheelchair accessible.

“It’s really important to us to ensure that we’re offering programming beyond just the physical infrastructure. Our commitment to accessibility extends beyond facilities,” said Toor. “How do we increase staff training and awareness? How do we improve the language and signage components? How do we improve our programming?”

“It’s not just a facility principle, it’s a programming principle.” U

Plans will be displayed for the layout and design of MacInnes Field (4,945m2) for athletic and recreational use and adjacent public realm landscape upgrades.

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

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

This event is wheelchair accessible.

Can’t attend in person? Online feedback will be accepted until December 4, 2018. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations

FILE ELIZABETH WANG

The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre was upgraded pre-2010 Olympics.

november 27, 2018 tueSDAY | sports+REC | 15 RECAP //

Weekend rundown: Titles, trophies and the final push to the holiday break for the T-Birds

UBC’s volleyball teams hosted Pride Night on Saturday evening.

Mitchell Ballachay Senior Staff Writer

With just one week of classes to go, so too comes a close to another term of varsity sports. With only a weekend left to play before the holiday break, both winter and fullyear teams have been putting on a show both at home and away. Here’s what you missed last weekend in T-Bird athletics:

Women’s and Men’s Hockey take Down Regina For the first time since early October, the UBC men’s hockey team took to the ice looking to extend a win streak. After a rocky run last month that saw them lose five of six games, the team was able to get back on track with a pair of road wins over the Manitoba Bisons before returning to Doug Mitchell for a two-week homestand. Able to capitalize on the momentum of their victories in Manitoba, the team extended their win-streak to four games following a pair of solid wins over the Regina Cougars.

Friday night’s game saw rookie Maxwell James post a pair of second period goals, including the ultimate game-winner as UBC edged out the Cougars 2-1. Though James was held off of the scoresheet on Saturday, he remains the team’s leading scorer with seven goals and five assists on the year, tied at the top of the Canada West rookie scoring race. Goalie Rylan Toth’s 20 saves on 21 shots would prove enough for the ’Birds, despite Regina’s third-period push, as he would pick up his sixth win of the season.

Hungry for their second straight weekend sweep, the Thunderbirds started strong in Saturday’s afternoon game, posting a four-goal first period and fending off the Cougars by a score of 5-3. Rookie netminder Patrick Dea picked up his third win of the season, turning aside 29 shots on the afternoon.

UBC’s fourth consecutive victory is all the more impressive considering that they played with a short bench. The team carried just nine forwards into Saturday’s matchup and finished with only eight. Veteran forward Chase Clayton was ejected following a scrap with the Cougars’ Tyler Adams, as Clayton responded to a questionable hit early in the second period.

The UBC women’s hockey team was also able to post a sweep over the Regina Cougars as they start a four-game road swing over the coming weeks. The Thunderbirds opened the double-header on Friday night with a strong outing, shutting out the Cougars 3-0 and won a nail-biter 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday. The team made Regina pay with their powerplay unit, posting two, one-man advantage goals in the second period of Friday’s game and one in the second period of Saturday’s game. UBC was 3 for 11 on the weekend with the extra skater, as their special teams unit looks to break out of a slump – their powerplay had been just 1 for 23 in their last six games prior to this weekend.

Thunderbird goalie Tory Micklash got the nod for both starts, looking to build on her stellar campaign so far this season.

She would surrender just one goal on 49 shots throughout the weekend and would be pivotal to securing the shootout win in the Saturday matinee game. Micklash’s routinely excellent weekend has her sitting with a ridiculous 0.84 goals-against-average and a 0.961 save percentage, good for second best in the league in both categories — ­ top amongst UBC’s goalkeeping team.

Volleyball teams make slow and steady progress The women’s and men’s volleyball teams were back in action over

RYAN NEALE

the weekend as they hosted the Saskatchewan Huskies.

The women’s team played the minimum number of sets, handling the Huskies 3-0 in each of a pair of decisive victories.

With the weekend sweep, the team continues to build on their longest win streak of the season. They are winners of their last four as they head into the December break. The squad has been one of the hottest in the Canada West division since the start of November, as they climbed from 0-3 to 7-5 — ­ good for fourth in the league standings.

The wins over the Huskies gave UBC’s Kiera Van Ryk the opportunity to remind everyone how dominant she is, posting 19 kills on Friday and adding 20 more in Saturday’s matchup.

The reigning U Sports Rookie of the Year sits tied for second in the league for kills, on both an absolute and per set basis. UBC’s service game was also particularly proficient on the weekend, as they posted 19 aces across the 6 sets, including 7 by third-year setter Olivia Furlan. Furlan’s solid weekend has moved her into the league lead for service aces per set.

Following a weekend that saw the UBC men’s volleyball team pick up their first win of the season, the Thunderbirds continued to build on the cushion between themselves and the winless UBC Okanagan team that occupies the basement of the Canada West standings. Friday’s matchup saw the ’Birds down the Huskies for their second straight home win, 3-1, but they would drop Saturday’s Pride Night rematch by the same margin to split the series. Though their first winstreak of the season was snapped on Saturday, they posted a decent performance – all their sets were tightly played and were competitive to the final point.

Swimming Glory, Again

Rugby wins nationals

For the sixth straight year, the men’s and women’s swim teams swept the Canada West Conference banners. The women’s side crushed the competition en route to their 10th consecutive title, outscoring the runner-up Calgary Dinos by 274 points — ending with a 969-point total. The men’s side was more closely contested, with the Dinos falling just 98.5 points behind UBC’s 800.

Markus Thormeyer took home men’s Swimmer of the Meet, following first-place finishes in the 400-metre individual medley, the 200-metre freestyle, 4x100-metre freestyle relay, 4x200-metre freestyle relay and the 50-metre backstroke.

After picking up individual silver medals and team golds, Alex Pratt captured Rookie of the Meet.

Though UBC’s Hoi Lam Karen Tam didn’t pick up Swimmer of the Meet honours for the women’s side, she had one of the many impressive performances that the women’s team put forward. She would finish the event with five gold medals, including both the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle, for which she set new Canada West records.

Head coach Steve Price was awarded Canada West Coach of the Year for both the men’s and the women’s sides.

The men’s rugby team defeated the Queen’s Gaels 21-10 on Sunday to capture their second straight title at the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship. The Gold Medal victory capped off a solid tournament that saw the Thunderbirds cruise through the group-stage games, defeating Concordia 41-8, and Guelph 34-7.

In Sunday’s matchup, the first half was a defensive battle that saw Queen’s hold the typically highscoring squad to just a penalty goal — entering halftime, the Gaels led the Thunderbirds 7-3.

UBC would score a try each for Joseph Sourisseau and Cole Keffer to take a commanding lead during second-half action. The explosive half was capped off by Will Percillier’s third penalty goal of the match, as the team closed out the victory by an 11-point margin.

Eight Thunderbirds were named to the tournament’s Championship XV, including Percillier, Nick Frost, Connor Sampson, Cali Martinez, James Carson, Nick Carson, Michael Smith and Elias Ergas. The strong UBC representation in the allstar lineup is a testament to the strength of a UBC roster that has dominated intercollegiate play over recent years. U

Fixtures Sport

Home

Score

Away

41-8

Concordia

34-7

Guelph

Wednesday, November 21 Rugby (M)

UBC

Thursday, November 22 Rugby (M)

UBC

Friday, November 23 Volleyball (M)

UBC

3-1

Saskatchewan

Volleyball (W)

UBC

3-0

Saskatchewan

Ice Hockey (W)

Regina

0-3

UBC

Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

2-1

Regina

Saturday, November 24 Volleyball (M)

UBC

1-3

Saskatchewan

Field Hockey (M)

UBC

5-0

Burnaby Lakers FHC

Ice Hockey (W)

Regina

1-2

UBC

Ice Hockey (M)

UBC

5-3

Regina

Volleyball (W)

UBC

3-0

Saskatchewan

21-10

Queen’s

Sunday, October 28 Rugby (M)

UBC

16 | GAMeS | tueSDAY NoVEMbER 27, 2018

aCross 1 Muslim pilgrimage; 5 Vends; 10 actor Neeson; 14 Son of Rebekah; 15 Running wild; 16 First name in courtroom fiction; 17 Roseanne, once; 18 actress garson; 19 Score; 20 leads on; 22 Medieval steel helmet; 24 bro’s sibling; 25 “tommy” band; 26 dreadlocks wearer; 29 astronaut grissom; 32 belgian painter James; 36 Prefix with meter; 37 Formal gesture of respect; 39 largest book of the ot; 40 boundary; 43 “___ beso” (1962 hit); 44 black gum; 45 detained; 46 Mar. honoree;

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Crossword PuZZle

48 trick ending?; 49 Sniggler; 50 Comprehend; 52 blood-typing letters; 53 Cocktail; 57 Engender; 61 Revenuers, for short; 62 Religion founded in iran; 64 intestinal sections; 65 apple variety; 66 Release; 67 Ego; 68 ___-poly; 69 Williams of “happy days”; 70 Exam used to measure aptitude or intelligence; down 1 greek goddess of youth; 2 Strong ___ ox; 3 Slender missile; 4 Juridical; 5 Wise ones; 6 Makes a blunder; 7 Canard;

8 “Stay” singer lisa; 9 dry stalks; 10 group of armed men; 11 Fairway choice; 12 Wings; 13 dissolve; 21 Kgb counterpart; 23 ovis aries; 26 Speed contests; 27 Elite group; 28 barber’s sharpener; 29 Quebec’s ___ Peninsula; 30 Stomach woe; 31 bad-tempered; 33 Sales pitch; 34 ___ Mio; 35 abbreviated time off ; 37 dallas sch.; 38 Spanish uncle; 41 absolute; 42 thinker; 47 bureau; 49 Kind of tide; 51 Small hand drum; 52 Negatively charged particle; 53 hubbub;

54 Rifle adjunct; 55 Enthusiasm; 56 Capital of Calvados; 57 othello villain;

58 gen. Robt. ___; 59 Snakelike fishes; 60 Foolish; 63 Elevs.;

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