November 6, 2018

NovemBER 6, 2018 | VoLuME c | IssuE XiiI literally possessed since 1918

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NEWS

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SCIENCE

SPORTS

Intl. students don’t get into UBC more easily

Blog

Flowers in the cosmos at MOA

What your tour guide is really thinking

Trudeau announces $10 million in TRIUMF funding

Get ready for men’s soccer nattys, UBC

THE UBYSSEY

from

the

vault

The AMS permanent art collection’s tumultuous history comes with a $4 million-dollar price tag — and you own it.

// page 9

pAge 2

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EvENTS & PEOPLE

eveNTS

2

OUR CAMpUS

Dr. Benjamin Cheung is building community, one bagel at a time TUESDAY, NOvEMBER 6 FOOD INSeCURITy: A SySTeMS AppROACh 12 TO 1:30 P.M. @ SPPh B151 (2206 EAST MALL) hosted by the Future of Food Global Dialogue Series.

FREE

ThURSDAY, NOvEMBER 8 CiTR pReSeNTS: INveSTIgATIve pODCASTINg 4:30 TO 6 P.M. @ CiTR OFFICE (NEST ROOM 2514) With Co-host of “Somebody Somewhere” Jody Gottlieb.

FREE (email volunteer@citr.ca to reserve a spot)

SATURDAY, NOvEMBER 10 UBC FARM wINTeR MARKeTS 10 A.M. TO 12 P.M. @ UBC FARM (3461 ROSS DRIvE) Don’t let the wind or rain keep you from enjoying fresh food!

FREE

ON The COveR COveR By Elizabeth Wang and Claire Lloyd

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

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NOvEMBER 6, 2018 | vOLUME C| ISSUE XII CONTACT

EDITORIAL

STAFF

BUSINESS

Coordinating Editor Samantha McCabe coordinating@ubyssey.ca

Pawan Minhas, zubair hirji, Jack Yuan, Emma Livingstone, Jane Procyshyn, Matt Asuncion, Olivia Johnson, Candice Lipski, Marissa Birnie, Rolando hinojosa, Lua Presidio, Salomon Micko Benrimoh, Chimedum Ohaegbu, Ryan Neale, hannah Feodorov, Angela O’Donnell, Cat hartt Towle, Johann Cooper, Jack Lamming, Kristine ho, Clare Skillman, zainab Fatima, Iain Coates, Charlotte Alben, Riya Talitha, Chelsea Dumasal, Joshua Azizi, Sammy Smart, Danni Olusanya, Shamit Rahman, Divija Madhani, Moe Kirkpatrick, Daphnée Lévesque, Benoit Dupras, Sonia Kung, Scott Young, Eve O’Dea, Andrew ha, Anupriya Dasgupta, Aki Ota, Amy Shandro

Business Manager Douglas Baird business@ubyssey.ca

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Visuals Editor Claire Lloyd visuals@ubyssey.ca News Editors Alex Nguyen & Zak vescera news@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Bridget Chase culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Lucy Fox sports@ubyssey.ca Video Producer Marina McDuff video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Tristan wheeler opinion@ubyssey.ca Science Editor James vogl science@ubyssey.ca Photo Editor elizabeth wang photos@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Moira wyton features@ubyssey.ca

LEGAL The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Tuesday by The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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

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

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

The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related

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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.

“I didn’t want to go with ‘Baguettes with Ben’ because they’re really big, long and unwieldy.”

Candice Lipski Staff Writer

Content warning: This article contains a mention of suicide.

Dr. Benjamin Cheung can vividly recall the “strange, almost surreal” feeling that he was in the right place, doing the right thing after teaching his first psychology course in 2013. Years later, Cheung still enjoys teaching.

“I’ve been teaching for five, going on six years now, and I have never regretted going into teaching,” he said.

But attending psychology graduate school was actually Cheung’s plan B when he started his undergraduate degree at UBC. Cheung originally thought that he wanted to go to medical school.

After taking an organic chemistry course, he quickly realized that it was not an option.

Cheung was drawn to psychology for the same reasons, he says, as many others are — the desire to help and understand people.

“I would not have done anything differently,” Cheung said of his work. “I really treasure all that I’ve learned in the psychology department.”

But Cheung has concerns about mental health issues on campus, as well as the cold, anonymous feeling that large class sizes can give students. When a student in one of his classes died by suicide last year, it hit Cheung particularly hard.

“That really affected me because I had no idea,” he said. “I was struggling with a lot of guilt, and a lot of self-blame about whether or not I could have done something more, whether or not I could have said something, if I could have made more of a connection.”

This experience, as well as other experiences where students have confided in him about their mental health struggles, has led Cheung to try to do whatever possible to improve student mental health.

Cheung is involved with the Wellness Centre at UBC and collaborates with them on mental health research. While he

acknowledges that the university is trying to do a lot, Cheung believes more resources are needed on campus for students struggling with mental health issues. Last November, the wait time for an urgent psychiatry referral at UBC Student Health Services was one to three weeks and six to eight weeks for a non-urgent referral.

“It’s never enough. … Enough means that we have perfect mental health, and that we have no concerns, we have no wait lines for counseling, and whatever needs people have we completely address. And I don’t know if that is ever a realistic outcome.”

All of these factors, combined with a grad seminar on how to teach psychology, led Cheung to create Bagels with Ben, an initiative where he invites students from his classes to eat bagels each week and to talk about life in a casual environment outside of class time.

“I wanted to create this environment where people can come together, create community, and to get to know each other, and I feel like it’s getting at that need for community, need for affiliation,” he said. “Hopefully coming to these improves their well-being, improves their sense of connection with the department, with me [and] with their peers.”

Conversations at Bagels with Ben include but are not limited to good restaurants in Vancouver, study strategies, concerns about grad school and individual life experiences. As many as 15 students attend per session.

So that begs the question — why bagels?

“Bananas seemed weird and lame. I didn’t want to go with ‘Brunch with Ben’, because sometimes they’re in the afternoons. I didn’t want to go with ‘Baguettes with Ben’ because they’re really big, long, and unwieldy,” explained Cheung.

Aside from his extracurriculars, Cheung is currently working on a collaborative research project with the UBC department of

ELIzABETh WANG

psychology’s Dr. Steven Heine and Dr. Albert Lee Kai Chung of Singapore’s Nanyang Tech University. They are examining the idea of incremental theory of the self, commonly known as the concept of growth mindset.

“The literature has tended to talk about the positive aspects of a growth mindset, and I agree, there are a lot of positive things about the growth mindset,” Cheung said, “including things like encouraging more perseverance, not giving up after you fail or do poorly.”

Cheung’s research, however, aims to understand the potential downsides of having a growth mindset.

“What if the person engaged in this mindset doesn’t have that kind of thinking — that, ‘Okay, I need to stop, because this doesn’t seem realistic’ — then what happens?” questioned Cheung. “What are the negative impacts on mental wellbeing and mental health when we don’t know how to disengage from a goal?”

There is also a cultural aspect to the growth mindset, as it is more prevalent in certain cultural environments. according to Cheung. His research seeks to understand the effect of the growth mindset on mental well-being across different cultures.

Although Cheung enjoys the research aspect of being a professor, for him, it always comes back to his students.

“I learn a lot about life from talking to undergrads, and I also learn a lot about the undergrads themselves,” he said.

Cheung wants students to know how important it is for their well-being that they get involved and make connections, and that many opportunities exist to build community.

“I think students often underestimate the opportunities that are there because they’re so focused on studying — understandably so — but we’re here,” he said. “And the opportunities do exist, so if people look harder, they’ll be there.” U

NEWS

november 6, 2018 TUeSday

Editors Alex Nguyen + Zak Vescera

LABOUR //

3

TRANSIT //

Vancouver’s new mayor reaffirms support for subway extension to campus

FILE T. GEORGE MCBURNEY-LIN

“There is no opportunity for career advancement for someone like myself with the contract structure I have.”

FILE PATRICK GILLIN

Study finds women, minorities face more tenuous contract employment at Canadian universities Rumneek Johal Contributor

Female professors and professors who are visible minorities are adversely affected by precarious working conditions, says a new study by the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).

The CAUT survey of 2,600 contract academic staff (CAS) or “sessionals” finds that women and people of colour are more likely to be hired on a strictly term-by-term basis.

They also work more hours per course each week than their white male contract academic staff colleagues, and are overrepresented in lower income categories.

“There is no opportunity for career advancement for someone like myself with the contract structure I have,” said Dr. Jennifer Gagnon, a sessional instructor in the department of political sciences at UBC. “I have been at UBC now [for six years]. I have no job security. My job is arguably more insecure than it has ever been in the time I’ve been at UBC and all of that is despite exceptional job performance.”

The survey shed light onto the specific experiences of marginalized groups on university campuses.

CAUT Executive Director David Robinson said the survey finds that women and minorities are often relegated to sessional status and struggle to gain access to tenured positions, noting that “there is a bit of ghettoization.”

He added that this trend mirrors those in other industries.

“It’s a reality when you look at academia that we have something that’s often called the leaky pipeline, which is the higher you go, the fewer women you see,” said Gagnon.

She also noted that faculty facing “multiple layers of oppression and discrimination” — such as Indigenous, disabled or queer professors — face similar or overlapping barriers.

The number of sessional university instructors working grew by 79 per cent from 2005 to 2015, according to the CAUT survey.

At UBC, 449 professors are employed on a short term contract.

The employment equity online census found that 54.3 per cent of those sessionals are women, compared to only 26 per cent of full professors at UBC Vancouver.

Dr. Sylvia Fuller, a sociology associate professor who studies inequality and insecurity in labour market, said the increase in the number of contract staff in academic institutions is no accident.

“Hiring sessionals is mostly a cost-cutting measure,” said Fuller.

“They give universities flexibility in managing demand for courses and workload [and] allows the university to offload some of those risks around budget and around uncertainty in course scheduling onto the shoulders of the contract staff.”

Despite the CAUT study citing the number of sessional instructors in universities is rising in recent years, this has not been the case at UBC. “The number of sessional faculty has declined steadily from 585 to 449 at UBC in 2017/18,” said UBC Vice-Provost and Associate VP Academic Affairs Eric Eich.

Instead, more faculty have begun to take lecturer positions, which offer longer contract terms and better overall wages. Eich stressed that the university continues to support its contract faculty.

“Sessional instructors are covered by the Collective Agreement between UBC and

the UBC Faculty Association, [and] are able to access supports through the faculty association or their respective departments, and receive benefits through the Employee and Family Assistance Program,” said Eich.

Eligibility for medical benefits are dependent on whether or not a professor is at a 50 per cent or more appointment within their department.

The CAUT survey also highlighted the amount of unpaid work being done by contract staff, including the emotional labour that many female and racialized faculty endure.

Fuller said these increased hours are also likely due to fear of negative student evaluations — where there are known biases against women and people of colour — that could affect their tenuous employment status.

“There’s [a] higher impetus to put in a lot of work in order to have the outcome of student satisfaction,” said Fuller.

Many of these faculty are forced to seek additional work just to make ends meet.

“My teaching job as a professor isn’t what pays my bills. It isn’t what gives me my extended medical benefits that as a disabled woman, I absolutely need,” said Gagnon.

“I’ve had to have other employment [while lecturing].”

The result is even as universities take more efforts to make their campuses and staff more diverse, lecturers find themselves stuck on the lowest rung of the ladder and unable to advance.

“It may have been one of the worst career choices I made, to get a PhD,” said Gagnon. “And that’s in part because there is no opportunity for career advancement for someone like myself with the contract structure I have.” U

“I’m hoping that there will be additional federal funding for that project ...”

Charlotte Alden Senior Staff Writer

Vancouver’s new Mayor Kennedy Stewart is reaffirming his commitment to make the UBC Broadway Subway line a reality.

Stewart was supportive of the subway throughout his campaign, but expressed concerns about the project’s feasibility in a previous interview with The Ubyssey.

Since being elected on October 20, Stewart has already made significant headway in terms of securing funding for the project.

That doesn’t mean it’s in the bag. Stewart’s first priority is allocating external funding, since the city’s property taxes and service fees won’t cut it.

Federal funding is one possibility, and Stewart said that he has already had two meetings with the Prime Minister regarding transit issues in the region.

“I’m hoping that there will be additional federal funding for that project, as well as from other parties,” Stewart said.

UBC has also committed to contributing to the project, according to Associate VP Campus and Community Planning Michael White.

White said that UBC’s contributions would not come out of academic funding paid by students, and would include “contributions from new revenue from development on campus,” “revenue that’s generated from increased patronage of destination services” and land contributions.

Communication between the new mayor and UBC has not yet started, but Stewart said he’s slated to chat with UBC President Santa Ono in his first week on the board.

The AMS jumps in The AMS hasn’t been directly involved in funding conversations, but they’ve been heavily involved in advocacy and lobbying efforts.

Since the board approved the university’s rapid transit strategy in April, the AMS has been a part of the “rapid transit community

coalition” that aims to bring the subway and other transportation options to UBC. “It’s basically the community coming together to strategize how we’re coordinating our efforts to create more visibility about the getting the Skytrain line up to UBC,” said AMS VP External Cristina Ilnitchi.

Ilnitchi said the AMS has been lobbying for construction of this line for years, seeing it as a vital priority for the two-thirds of UBC students who commute to campus every day.

“We have so many commuter students, so many students who work off-campus, live off-campus, so many staff, faculty and neighbours in the area that all agreed that there is a gap here,” Ilnitchi said. “It is always going to be a priority for the AMS to get better transit and mobility for students in this area.”

Logistics Stewart said that the current projection for the completion of the subway to Arbutus is 10 years, with Broadway construction set to start soon.

“But it only goes to Arbutus,” Stewart said. “So what I’m trying to do is to make sure that extending to UBC is now included in the plan.”

But, logistically, very little is solidified. White said the university is still unsure where the station would exactly run, where the stations would be and how much the project would cost.

Stewart said that the best solution in regards to the tunnelling would be if it began in two places at once, with one team starting at UBC going east and another team starting at the Evergreen Line going west.

“That’s how the channel was built between France and England in the UK,” said Stewart, “and it really cuts down the amount of time that you have to devote to the project.”

Details are still to be discussed, but he expressed confidence in the rapid completion of the project.

“I’m confident that as long as we can agree on the projects in general, we can secure the funding [to make] this happen as fast as possible,” said Stewart. U

4 | News | TUesDAY november 6, 2018 FACT-CHECK //

Professor says that international students face lower admissions standards. Do they?

“These claims are not accurate.”

Samantha McCabe Coordinating Editor

After a UBC associate professor argued in a Vancouver Sun column that international students face easier admission standards, the university has refuted his claims.

Dr. Peter Wylie, who teaches economics at UBC Okanagan, wrote that since the admissions of international students are considered separately, there may be less demand and therefore less competition for their seats. “... [I]nternational students are able to buy their way into UBC by being in a different admissions stream, paying staggeringly high fees, in a manner that domestic students cannot,” Wylie wrote in the October 30 column.

He wrote that “it is entirely possible, and perfectly acceptable to UBC, for international students to be admitted with lower grades than those needed of domestic students.”

UBC disputed his arguments the following day with an assertive statement.

“These claims are not accurate,” said Pamela Ratner, vice-provost and associate vice-president of enrolment and academic facilities.

Displacement or no displacement?

Ratner’s statement shows that admission averages between international and domestic students are virtually the same — 91.2 per cent and 91 per cent this year, respectively.

International students haven’t always historically outscored domestic students, but data from UBC indicates the small gap between admissions averages has stayed consistent over the past 10 years.

“It is clear that newly admitted UBC students, be they international or domestic, are academically strong,” wrote Ratner.

The statement also clarifies that while UBC cannot accept every student that applies, international

Elizabeth WANG

and domestic students do not directly compete because there are separate admission streams.

Wylie responded in an email to The Ubyssey quoting from previous statements from university administration which say that “with the wide range of educational systems found around the world, it is impossible to precisely equate grades,” and that UBC “basically ‘manufactures’ international GPAs to be comparable to domestic GPAs.” Farah El-Afifi, president of the UBC International Students Association, said in an emailed statement that the difference in educational systems worldwide actually makes it much more complicated for international students to ascertain what UBC wants from them before jumping through those hoops.

“While I understand that what UBC advertises might differ from what it implements, my point is that the barrier to even consider applying to UBC is much larger for international students in terms of the work they need to put in before they get here, the work they need to put in once they’re here … and the work they need to do to keep attending UBC,” she wrote.

In his column, Wylie also points to what he sees as “large, unmet domestic student demand” as affecting admissions.

“However, for international students, there might be only be a small excess demand relative to supply of seats targeted, so they might get in with grades in the 70s because they are competing in a different, likely less competitive admissions stream,” he wrote.

This is also debatable. UBC’s 2017/18 Enrolment Report shows that admission rates of international and domestic students at both UBC campuses have been within five per cent of each other over the past five years.

While fewer international students apply to UBC, fewer get in — it’s almost exactly as competitive. U

Wylie replied that these data “are meaningless to the issue.”

The Enrolment Report adds that while applications from international students have increased over time, they don’t displace domestic students because they don’t compete for government-funded seats.

The province currently funds 42,424 full-time domestic students, and UBC pays for an additional 4,000. The university credits international student tuition — which almost doubled in late 2015 and has steadily risen each year since then — as partially responsible for its increased faculty and support capacity across both campuses.

While the AMS has historically opposed tuition increases, the society agrees with UBC’s assertion about the importance of international students on campus.

“Without international students, UBC would not be able to surpass the limitations of provincial funding, enrol 4,000 additional domestic students, hire exemplary faculty and staff and ultimately, create a learning environment that is intellectually enriching for all,” said AMS President Marium Hamid in an emailed statement in response to Wylie’s column.

“Net benefit” Wylie was unfazed by UBC’s statement.

He told The Ubyssey that his Sun column is part of a larger research project on enrolment, admissions and “all aspects of the university’s operations.”

While he doesn’t think there should be fewer international students at UBC and recognizes that the groups have different admissions streams, he is concerned that domestic students cannot get seats in certain classes because of the growth in international enrolment.

“When a program gets to the point where other international students are 70 per cent of everyone in the program, I think that’s going too far,” said Wylie, referencing UBCO’s economics program and his own classes as examples.

He sees more classes and additional seats in programs as potential solutions.

“I think there should be seats opened up for domestic students in programs that are very popular with international students,” Wylie said. “... But I’d like to see the funds, I’d like to see the revenues from these international students used to hire more professors to put on more courses.”

UBC says a student’s registration priority is a combination of year level and academic performance, and isn’t related to their country of citizenship.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that international students are overall doing better than domestic students once they get

to UBC. But it does imply that if Wylie is in fact seeing a majority of international students in his classes, those students might have achieved the highest grades and chosen his class with their earlier registration time.

While there may be more international students in some programs, this is likely caused more by preference than by “displacement” of domestic students.

UBC has “no data on student performance stratified by citizenship that is readily available,” so there is nothing to show that international students are doing more poorly overall than domestic students.

“We think it is vital for UBC to dispel claims that are not founded in evidence,” wrote Hamid in support of UBC on behalf of the AMS. “We hope that members of the community take the time to reflect that claims made without sufficient evidence have the ability to cause harm and increase misinformed rhetoric.”

While it’s true that UBC is admitting a greater number of international students, the university argues that it brings only positive changes to the community.

“International students bring a diversity of opinion, perspective, and circumstance, which improves the educational experience of everyone at UBC,” Ratner wrote.

“In short, international students provide a significant net benefit for UBC, the community, and for the BC economy.” U

Notice of Development Permit Application - DP 10001-6

Public Open House

Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility (BRDF) Expansion Join us on Wednesday, November 21 to view and comment on the expansion of the biomass processing capacity of the Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility at 2337 Lower Mall.

Date: Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Times: 4:00 - 6:00PM Place: Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility, 2337 Lower Mall Plans will be displayed for the addition of hot water boiler capacity to the existing BRDF steam plant and resulting interior and exterior modifications to the existing site.

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

Guided tours of the existing BRDF will be available for those in attendance.

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 November 28, 2018. To learn more or to comment on this project, please visit: planning.ubc.ca/vancouver/projects-consultations

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY | NeWS | 5 FISh COURT //

‘There’s a bunch of dead fish’: UBC on trial for allegedly poisoning local creek

“Well, fish die.”

Samantha McCabe Coordinating Editor

A years-long trial against UBC and a refrigeration company for the alleged poisoning of a local creek is coming to an end.

Since 2016, UBC and CIMCO Refrigeration have been jointly charged with Federal Fisheries Act violations after allegedly dumping ammonia into a storm sewer on the Vancouver campus in 2014.

UBC was charged with four counts of Federal Fisheries Act violations: three regarding the deposit of deleterious substances and one for failure to notify the appropriate authorities.

Though CIMCO Refrigeration — a contracting company hired by the

CLAIRE LLOYD

university — already pled guilty, the university is requesting acquittal on all four charges, placing the blame on their former partner.

According to a timeline of events established by UBC’s defence counsel, UBC’s head ice-maker at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Jeff Harley, heard banging coming from key machinery at one of UBC’s ice rinks on September 12, 2014. When he couldn’t figure out the nature of the noise himself, he called an on-site CIMCO employee.

A conference call between three CIMCO employees soon led to an action plan, which eventually involved dumping ammonia product into an outdoor storm sewer.

According to investigators, that sewer feeds into Booming Ground

Creek, a stream close to the Fraser River. They said that as a result of the chemical dump, over 70 fish were killed over the course of three days. A sample taken of the water in the area soon after the incident identified ammonia levels over 300 times the lethal dose for fish.

During closing arguments, UBC sought to establish its relationship with CIMCO as one of trust and reliability, with the company as an “independent contractor at arm’s length from UBC.” They asserted that the technical difficulties associated with properly diluting ammonia for safe dumping is beyond anyone at UBC. “Deference to CIMCO was wellentrenched,” said defence counsel Wally Braul, meaning that UBC would have reasonably trusted CIMCO to control the situation.

Crown counsels Charles Hough and Alex Clarkson argued that UBC did not only permit the deposit, but also actively participated in it, saying that the university was nowhere near establishing their due diligence.

Hough explained that UBC allowed the dumping to occur by directing CIMCO to the drain and witnessed the dumping without objecting to it. He said that he found it “remarkable” that UBC failed to train Harley about what should go down the storm drain and where it leads.

The Crown also pointed out that UBC failed to immediately

report the event to authorities.

The dump was first reported at 4:30 p.m., when a professor noticed the smell while biking past and called UBC’s Environmental Services Facility (ESF). An ESF technician emailed UBC’s director of environmental services, Noga Levit, who emailed now-Chief Risk Officer Ron Holton. None of them called the authorities.

Another UBC staff member went with Levit to the arena at around 5:45 p.m. While the staff member did not report the strong ammonia smell because she thought Levit would, they told Harley and the CIMCO employee to stop dumping the solution.

A second professor noticed the smell at about 5 p.m. and called the RCMP 20 minutes after, leading the RCMP to contact an emergency program at 6:18 p.m.

In total, over five people were made aware of the issue and close to two hours went by before Emergency Management BC was called.

Hough argued that UBC should have called Emergency Management BC when the technician first met with the professor, or shortly after when higher-ups received emails from the technician.

Braul countered that the investigation itself was botched, saying that the timing and extent of the samples that investigators took are unreliable.

“Well, fish die,” he said, proposing that there could have been other contaminants from various other places upstream — between the storm drain and Booming Ground Creek — that flowed down and killed the fish.

He called it a “large gap in the work done by investigators.”

The Crown countered that they did not need to prove if the quality of the water became deleterious after the substance was added, only that the substance added to the water was deleterious.

The judge pointed out that the burden of proving whether or not the deleterious substance came from another source was the responsibility of the defence, not the Crown.

“There’s a bunch of dead fish,” said Judge Bonnie Craig.

In sum, the Crown Counsel said that there was a substantial gravity of harm and a reasonable expectation that UBC was in a position to prevent the act from occurring.

UBC said that since the incident, it has replaced its system with one that does not rely on ammonia. A universitywide environmental policy was put into place in summer 2014, just before the incident occurred.

If convicted, UBC could face substantial financial penalties. A decision is set to be made at the Richmond provincial courthouse on November 27. U

CULTURe

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY

EDITOR BRIDGET CHASE

6

MUSIC TheRApy //

pUT A SpeLL ON yOU //

Do you believe in magic? UBC Occultism offers a space to learn about the supernatural

ELIzABETh WANG

Jack said that during the meetings there is usually a high success rate of performing magic.

Candice Lipski Staff Writer

“All members are responsible for their own safety and actions, and should treat this group as what it is: a social club designed to foster conversation and interest,” reads the UBC Occultism disclaimer page on the group’s website.

On a gloomy Thursday afternoon, two students meet in a small study room on campus to take part in the biweekly meeting of UBC’s unofficial Occultism Club.

Often there are more in attendance, but busy schedules have made attendance sparse.

Introductions at the meeting are short — Jack (whose name has been changed to protect

his identity), one of the three group administrators, is already familiar with the other student in attendance. The conversation quickly turns to this week’s theme: Angelic Magic and the Magician’s Choice.

Usually the group will practice performing magic together, but this meeting focused on offering background information and history about the week’s topic.

“This group is meant for discussion,” said Jack. “... In general, how it will go is I’ll give them a hypothesis, and then I’ll give them some experiments to do, and then I’ll lead them through it.”

Jack said that during the meetings there is usually a high success rate of performing magic

because people tend to try harder with others around.

Although unsure of exact numbers, Jack estimated that between 15 and 20 people are involved in the group.

Meetings occur biweekly, but the administrators also work one-onone with members to help them achieve their goals.

The group is cautious when it comes to sharing personal details of those involved.

“If the wrong person is in the room, it could be the end of everyone’s life in that room. I’m not saying that as a dramatic statement, but it’s certainly true,” Jack said. “It can be career ending if you get some kind of slander or accusation that goes the wrong way, especially given what we’re discussing.”

Jack’s quiet intensity can be unsettling, but he’s adamant that he wants to help people in their attempts to master magic.

“I think a lot of people grow up hoping that there’s some kind of magic in the world, and then they’re disappointed when they realize that religions are all just feeding you lies,” he said of why people are drawn to magic.

If you’re curious about occultism or want to know more about the group, Jack said that everyone is welcome to contact them by visiting their website.

“If you want to start on your own, and you’re interested, start being extremely honest about what you think and feel,” he said. “… Start questioning what you know is real and how, and then see where it takes you.” U

UBC Opera partners with the Veteran’s Transition Network for Silent Night

fill a gap

“Music is so powerful,” said hermiston.

in your program

Veterans from the Afghanistan war are bringing authenticity to UBC’s Opera program.

Silent Night, based on the screenplay by Christian Carion, is an opera being put on this month at UBC. Not only are there top class students performing, but the Head of Voice and Opera at the UBC School of Music, Nancy Hermiston, is working alongside Dr. Marvin Westwood, the head of the Veteran’s Transition Network, to have veterans perform in their production as well.

“Music is so powerful,” said Hermiston. “[Veterans] were using the fine and performing arts to help deal with and express their emotions, and deal with the trauma they were experiencing.”

The idea first came to Hermiston when she saw the film War in the Mind, which the veterans of the Transition Network were a part of. “This film, War in the Mind, was so haunting and so moving, and so I got interested in the program,” Hermiston explained.

She described music as being a kind of solace to the soldiers in World War I and that the common story of the “Christmas Truce” is not a work of fiction. It started off when a German soldier began singing a Christmas carol from

Athabasca University has over 850 courses to choose from to meet your needs and courses start every month. AU has over 6,600 transfer agreements around the world (including with this institution).

Cat hartt-Towle Staff Writer

COURTESY TIM MAThESON/UBC OPERA

their trench and eventually the Scottish troops joined in with the bagpipes. Before everyone knew it, all of the troops on the battlefield were singing.

Part of the learning experience for the students involved was figuring out how to portray the idea of being in a war, replicating the constant engaged state of mind a soldier needs to be in.

“How can any of us ever imagine what it’s like to be in those trenches?” Hermiston asked. “What it’s like to be not knowing [if ] that child that’s coming to you with a package, is that a bomb or is that really a gift from that child?’”

Hermiston was honest when she said that “there [are] only pros” to working with the veterans.

Silent Night is a unique opera and the partnership between the UBC School of Music and the Veteran’s Transition Network will make the production a once in a lifetime experience. U Silent Night will be performed on November 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Old Auditorium. There will also be a symposium featuring veteran guest speakers happening between the dates of the shows on November 6, 7 and 8. Visit the UBC Opera website for symposium and ticket details.

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY | culture | 7 BUSh pLUM FLOweRS IN The COSMOS //

Women from Aboriginal Australia transcend the horizon of contemporary art

Madura Katta Contributor

“Some of the paintings are comprised of thousands of dots ... looking at the paintings is as though we’re peering into the infinity and the cosmos. But to the artist, each and every dot is [a] bush plum flower,” said Carol E. Mayer, the curator of the exhibit Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia.

This is the MOA’s first exhibit from Australia, and notably, their first all-women art exhibition. The exhibit features nine Aboriginal artists from secluded communities in Australia’s tropics and deserts, whose paintings that have gained international art market acclaim.

The artwork was first “discovered” in the late 1980s, and therefore does not have much known history. Instead, these artists are forging history. These women are matriarchs, healers and keepers of knowledge who are also constructing their own mold as artists. Traditionally in Aboriginal communities in Australia, men were primarily

artists, but over time women in the community began making art as well.

Each artist’s work is distinct and speaks to various universal motifs. Trying to define their art would be like trying to frame something that is without lines, edges or orientation. Their art is influenced by something they call “country,” but not country in the traditional sense.

“It is your land, your world, your place ... it is country,” Mayer explained. At first glance these contemporary paintings might seem straightforward. However, the art is informed by a deeplyrooted ancestral knowledge about country and the coalescing spheres of the spiritual and physical.

“Each dot is [a] journey, a story, an ancestral tale ...” Mayer said.

The paintings are abstractions, capturing a depth that is not meant to be explained.

Voices from Indigenous communities and what they can tell us about a shared existence have relevance, especially in our tumultuous world. There is no such thing as the right time to

Come, stare into the abyss and see the bush plum flowers scattered in the cosmos.

showcase their voices, and this exhibit was just a matter of the fact that “they spoke, and we listened,” said Mayer.

Attempting to signify the

magnitude of this exhibit in any number of words is to minimize it. Come, stare into the abyss and see the bush plum flowers scattered in the cosmos. U

COURTESY MOA

Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia will be on display at the Museum of Anthropology until March 31.

INCLUSIve AND pOLITICAL SpACeS //

The Hatch provides a space for approachable art

“The shows are political. I think to ignore politics right now is problematic” said Greer.

henrique Fernandes Contributor

Amongst all the formal and academic art institutions at UBC, the Hatch Gallery stands out as a more approachable place for UBC and non-UBC students to showcase their art.

As the only student-run art gallery on campus, the Hatch provides an exhibition space that is more accessible to first-time artists and curators. It acts as a starting point for creators going into the working world.

The gallery also provides “a space for dialogue about art that’s a little bit more inclusive, more

approachable than some of the larger institutions like MOA and the Belkin,” explained Maxim Greer, the manager and director of the Hatch. “It’s a lot harder to walk into an institution that’s been around for a long time and just have your work automatically displayed ... So it’s a starting point for a lot of people.”

The gallery has held very diverse expositions and touched on a variety of different topics, ranging from marginalized identities and how their bodies are portrayed in art, to the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel, and even climate change.

“The shows are political. I

FILE KOSTA PRODANOvIC

think to ignore politics right now is problematic,” said Greer.

Although past exhibits have been controversial, Greer said that people are always welcome to visit the Hatch and discuss the art being displayed. He wants the gallery to be a “free space of expression” that brings everyone into “open dialogue and conversation” about art.

The Hatch holds a call for submissions every June for their annual schedule of programmed shows, which is organized by a jury and the director of the gallery. Since the Hatch aims to be a more approachable platform for students to display their art,

the process of curation focuses more on the “artistic quality and creativity” of the pieces, as well as the strength of the ideas and the message behind the work.

As opposed to the other, larger institutions on campus, the Hatch doesn’t require a “long list of accomplishments” to showcase your art. For example, Our Bodies are Bodies — one of the most recent exhibitions — was very unique in that there were “eight students from UBC that got to exhibit their art in one show.”

“It goes back to the idea of the Hatch being this first-time space, this training and working space,” Greer said.

In addition to the criteria involved in assessing submissions, Greer also added that one of the main focuses of curation that he’s developed out of his studies is the “placement” of the work being displayed and how you “bring different works into conversation with each other”.

Currently the Hatch is also holding a mini-exhibit where they are showcasing pieces from the AMS permanent collection, rotating between different works owned by the AMS every two weeks.

“It was an idea that had been developed in response to the idea that not enough of the art from the permanent collection has the opportunity to be exhibited to students because there’s over 70 pieces in the collection and there’s usually one show scheduled per year,” Greer explained.

The idea of cycling between the different works was developed by a previous director and Greer believes it gives many pieces

in the collection “more of an opportunity to be seen by the public.” The outcome has been very positive and Greer says that “it’s been really nice to come in and out of the gallery and seeing people looking at the art and reading about it.”

According to Greer, this idea has also helped to bring awareness to the Hatch and to the fact that they have an amazing collection.

As a part of the AMS, the Hatch is in contact with a lot of student groups on campus.

This year, the gallery is actively trying to become a louder voice within the UBC community by interacting more with students and other AMS clubs. Moving forward, the Hatch hopes to partner up with clubs to combine art exhibitions with events like workshops. For instance, Our Bodies are Bodies had a workshop on consent and rape culture facilitated by the AMS Sexual Assault Support Centre.

The gallery hopes to become more active and expand their programming “outside of just being this gallery that’s open from twelve to five that people can walk in and out of.”

Lastly, Greer hopes to program an end-of-year catalogue with the goal of documenting all of the shows for the next year to give students “opportunities to write about art and to look back at the art that we have exhibited.”

It all goes back to the Hatch being a gallery that aims to be more inclusive and interactive with students, giving people more accessible opportunities to showcase their work and talk about art. U

8 | culture | tueSDAY november 6, 2018 HOUSE OF CARDS //

Before disaster strikes: How UBC’s museums and galleries consider the safety of their collections Collins Maina Contributor

The last thing on your mind when visiting a museum or gallery on campus is how the items you are viewing would be protected if disaster were to strike. But after a devastating fire consumed Brazil’s oldest museum, with its archive of 20 million items almost completely destroyed, collections security is at the forefront of many conservators’ minds.

In many cases, disaster planning is an ongoing process within each of the individual galleries and museums at UBC. With vast, valuable and historically irreplaceable collections, some of the older museums on campus have opted for gradual upgrades, while those in newer buildings have preimplemented mechanisms in place.

The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) staff realized it was time to finalize their disaster plan after a burst pipe in 2004 led to cascading water that flooded their entrance and front lobby. Heidi Swierenga, MOA senior conservator and head of collections care, management and access department, said it was a moment of reckoning where they saw how staff, volunteers and guests took on roles that were helpful and at times chaotic.

Disaster response, emergency response and salvage planning are typically things that everybody knows they need to do but can easily drop down the priority list because there’s no timeline or deadline associated with them, said Swierenga.

“It’s not until you have a big incident that you realize ‘Oh my god, we should’ve had something in place.’”

After they heard the “all clear” from the first-responders, Swierenga said her first concern was what to do with the collections. Fortunately, the gushing water had only damaged the gift shop and upper lobby by the time the pipe was turned off by building operations.

Since the event, MOA has had a comprehensive disaster plan that outlines emergency procedures and guidelines on how to salvage the collections after any kind of damage. They addressed this through role-assignments with tiers of response under the director, based on different functions. “We often run drills,” Swierenga said.

They also have a flood kit on-site, and a salvage kit provided by the BC Heritage Emergency Response Network (HERN), a small province-wide collections salvage initiative that Swierenga co-runs.

Swierenga said the MOA’s highest risk is still water damage due to its old leaky roof which was installed in the mid-1970s.

“If you go out into the great hall you’ll see things that are moved out of one of the platforms, and we’ve got buckets out there because there’s a hole in the ceiling,” she said, adding that their roof is scheduled for replacement soon.

In mid-November, MOA will also be undergoing a large seismic upgrade in its great hall to install a base isolation system which will

preserve objects on a case-by-case basis in the event of an earthquake.

The Beaty Biodiversity Centre is at the opposite end of the spectrum, with a newer building that is set up to protect the collections it houses.

Structurally, the building has a fire suppression system with high-flow sprinklers and a highly sensitive smoke-detection system that can be set off if too much dust is stirred up in the collections area, said Chris Stinson, a curatorial assistant and the co-chair of the centre’s safety team.

The Beaty holds irreplaceable specimens that date back to the mid-1800s, Stinson said. So he monitors the environment ensuring that humidity, temperature and light levels are at a safe range. He also makes sure that the specimens are in their right cabinets.

The building is up to fire code since they it has around 70,000 jars of specimens stored in alcohol solution. A visitor at the Beaty may notice they have fire extinguishers on every other aisle, adding up to 52 on the collection floor.

An earthquake is the biggest risk they face, Stinson said, explaining that the all the cabinets are bolted so as to not topple over and their floor system is surrounded by a ventilation and drainage system that could quickly channel out any water and alcohol safely.

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the AMS Art Gallery both focus on secure storage methods to protect their collections. The Belkin stores half

COLLINS MAINA

“It’s not until you have a big incident that you realize ‘Oh my god, we should’ve had something in place.’”

of their collection in an off-site commercial facility while the AMS stores the larger portion of the collection they don’t have on display in The Hatch within a secure vault that is both lightand temperature-sensitive and fire and flood proof.

In the case of an earthquake, AMS staff said that the building would be more likely to collapse around the vault, keeping the collection inside intact. The Belkin works in line with UBC Building Operations’ guidelines on safety procedures and collection storage in the case of a disaster.

The Art History and Visual Art (AHVA) Gallery is different from the other museums and galleries on campus because they do not have a permanent collection, since they mostly host symposiums and universityaffiliated exhibitions, said Jeremy Jaud, their safety advisor and operations manager.

While safety considerations are somewhat individual to the different galleries and museums at UBC, the common thread is that all the facilities have their collections insured, and abide to building operations guidelines and safety codes. U

opera breaks glass and hearts //

Review: Silent Night is a heart-wrenching tale of humanity Cat Hartt-Towle Staff Writer

COURTESY TIM MATHESON/UBC OPERA

This tear-jerking show pulls at the heartstrings of humanity by displaying the message that every person is a human.

Imagine this: the lights come down on stage and the UBC symphony orchestra begins tuning its instruments. As a lover of the performing arts, my excitement began to build as I sat in UBC’s Old Auditorium for the opening performance of Silent Night.

UBC Opera’s Silent Night tells the based-on-a-true-story of the “Christmas Truce” during World War I. It features two acts, which are sung in English, French, German, Italian and Latin.

The story is heart-wrenching.

The actors did a splendid job of bringing the audience — at least myself — to tears with the emotion invoked by the music and passion of this story. All of the voices projected through the auditorium and each note was pure. For a show put on in five different languages, following the subtitles was not difficult from the upper balcony.

One of my favourite parts of the show was right before intermission where Magdalena How, who played Anna Sørensen, sang a Christmas carol. Everything

in the auditorium was silent, including the orchestra, aside from the light tapping of rain on the windows. As the music swells, How hits the purest high note I have ever heard. It was both breathtaking and inspiring.

Apart from the rest of the cast’s well-trained voices, the visual effects were quite something. The lighting on stage mixed with a video of falling snowflakes made the black floors appear as though they were covered in a light layer of snow. And we can’t forget even the smallest details, such as staging. I was able to clearly visualize who was singing even when the stage was covered with actors.

Overall, this tear-jerking show pulls at the heartstrings of humanity by portraying the message that every person is human. Even though they are telling a story of war where death is expected, the actors remind us as an audience that each character is a father, son and husband. I would honestly watch this show every night of its run if I could. U Silent Night will be performed on November 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Old Auditorium.

FEATURES

november 6, 2018 Tuesday

Editor moira wyton

9

Abandoned Village E.J. Hughes photo by Elizabeth Wang

from the vault

words marissa birnie design claire lloyd

The AMS permanent art collection’s tumultuous history comes with a $4 million price tag — and you own it

D

eep within the Nest, there is a vault. What lies inside is worth almost $4 million — and you own it.

Between rows of rolling walls are 71 works of art — aquired over the years for just under $700,000 in total — by some of the most celebrated Canadian artists in history. This is the AMS permanent collection and it’s been around since the 1950s.

If that’s news to you, don’t worry. Despite its long history, the student-owned collection has struggled to find its place amid decades of change and neglect.

A lack of funding, space and general apathy from the AMS have kept the collection out of sight and out of mind.

But things are changing. The AMS recently renewed its interest in the collection, establishing a committee to pursue the sale of up to four works of art in 2017.

In August, the society approved the sale of Jeune fille en uniforme

by Québec’s Jean Paul Lemieux, a painting that is estimated to retrieve at least $300,000 in an upcoming auction with Heffel, a Canadian fine art auction house.

There are plans to increase the visibility of the remaining art through the Hatch gallery.

Now that the oft-forgotten works are making their way back into the limelight, The Ubyssey decided to dive into how the only fully student-owned art collection in Canada came to be.

Growing Pains Few students are aware of the collection’s existence, let alone its size, quality, star-power and immense monetary value.

“I think it’s a largely foreign concept for people to imagine that a student union could have an art collection,” said AMS President Marium Hamid in a June interview with The Ubyssey.

Dr. Robert Belton, an associate professor of art history at UBC, first discovered the collection in 2004.

“I was astonished at the stuff that was in there,” he said.

Robert Heffel, a UBC alumnus and vice-president of Heffel, said the collection was never hung

during his time at the university.

Hatch Gallery Director Maxim Greer is pretty sure many students don’t even know it exists.

While admittedly unlikely, the collection is a result of a long, tumultuous history of faculty, student and artistic collaboration.

In the early 1940s, English professor Hunter Lewis proposed that students, aided by faculty members, should develop a unique collection for the student union building in Brock Hall. In 1948, he helped the AMS purchase its first piece: Abandoned Village, Rivers Inlet, BC by E.J. Hughes.

Painted in Hughes’ typical landscape style, Abandoned Village depicts a deteriorated settlement being slowly engulfed

by the wilderness — gnarled wood, undergrowth and lapping waves permeate the vanishing village.

The AMS paid $150 for the painting. Today, it is one of the most celebrated and valuable works in the collection. In 2016, another Hughes painting from 1949 was sold for a record of almost $1.6 million.

Heffel believes the collection showed “a tremendous amount of foresight” thanks in part to the efforts of men like Lewis and B.C. Binning, who founded the UBC fine arts department.

An artist himself, Binning used his extensive knowledge and connections in the art world to help students procure 23 art works until his retirement in 1968. His friendship with the Group of Seven

10 | Features | TUESDAY november 6, 2018

Jeune fi Jean P

Gabriola Island E.J. Hughes Untitled Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

members and Lawren Harris in particular helped procure Northern Image, another highly influential work in the collection.

In 1958, Maclean’s magazine commissioned nine artists to create works of art representing BC in honour of the province’s centennial, and Binning convinced the magazine to donate the finished works to the Brock Hall art collection, cementing its importance in the Canadian art scene.

“In the pictures shown here there seems to be a common approach: no single human being, and little of man’s works, are shown — only sea, forest, mountain and river,” wrote Maclean’s.

Under the leadership of Binning in particular, the collection saw rapid growth through the ’50s and ’60s. In 1965, Binning helped organize what would become the only showing of the collection outside of UBC at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The art was always accessible to the average student — perhaps even too accessible.

What made the Brock Hall art collection so unique was the fact that the art hung on the walls of the Student Union Building, not a separate gallery. One downside to the public accessibility of the paintings was the vandalism that occurred as students did what students do: drink.

One morning in 1960, Jack Markell’s The Shawl and Gordon Smith’s Tangled Undergrowth were discovered dripping with paint. A pot of paint and an empty bottle of rum were found near the scene of the crime. It wasn’t the first incident, either. A year earlier, one painting was stolen and three canvases were slashed.

Sometime during the night, a sloshed student used their hands to smear red paint on the canvases and windows. Perhaps feeling

their next move required more precision and a different colour, they then took a paintbrush and wrote on the windows in white paint: TSINUMMOC KNURD (“drunk communist” spelled backwards).

Darker decades Binning’s retirement in 1968 marked “the beginning of a huge shift for the collection,” according to Greer. The next several decades would be what Greer refers to as the collection’s “dark period.”

The collection was moved to the then-new Student Union Building — now the Life Building — in 1970, which had its own art gallery.

Fearing further vandalism, the AMS declined to display the paintings anywhere else.

The 1970s saw a restructuring of the AMS committees designed to commission and acquire art for the collection. The society created a separate purchasing committee and gallery committee. More importantly, students would now be responsible for forming the committees instead of a UBC professor. This was the beginning of a fully student-owned and run collection.

But neglect, bad storage conditions and poor security began to impact the collection and the art began to deteriorate.

“

In 1974, there was a supposed heist, with The Ubyssey reporting 8 to 18 missing or stolen works.

None of the Brock Hall committee members seemed to know what had actually been stolen. Because of poor record-keeping, the committee did not know how many paintings were in the collection to begin with.

“The damage people have done to some of the paintings is amazing,” said committee student member Lynn Orstad to The Ubyssey in 1974. She mentioned people slit the frames, wrote on the works and ripped the canvases. One work appeared to have had a tomato rubbed into it.

The committee wasn’t sure how many master keys existed for the gallery and admitted security was non-existent.

Further controversy would plague the gallery in the next decade.

In 1980, a report by the Student Administrative Committee suggested turning the gallery into a lounge, criticizing inefficient use of gallery space. In 1982, this idea was put into action, leaving the gallery and its art in limbo for a year until it was reopened.

In 1988, the gallery president at the time said the collection was deteriorating due to lack of interest.

She told The Ubyssey, “Before the new humidity controlled vault was

“

It’s a largely foreign concept for people to imagine that a student union could have an art collection.

built a few years ago, six paintings had been stolen, possibly by members of the AMS.” While the AMS would eventually improve the security and storage of the work, the lack of interest described by the gallery president never faded.

A fresh coat It was not until 2012 — 44 years after Binning’s departure — that the AMS would start to seriously consider the future of the collection.

The society purchased several works of art in the 2000s, but this period was relatively uneventful.

The last work was acquired in 2007, but today, an acquisition budget no longer exists. Greer said there are currently no plans to purchase more art.

I think [students] should care because art conveys a lot of political, historical, social storylines and narratives that are important.

”

AMS President Marium Hamid

”

Hatch Art Gallery Executive Director Maxim Greer

The idea to start selling the paintings was first proposed in 2009 at an AMS Council meeting. In 2012, the society successfully passed a referendum that would allow them to sell up to three works of art from the collection. However, nothing materialized for a long time.

Suddenly, the AMS began to take more of an interest in the collection. In 2015, the Hatch Art Gallery opened in the Nest, with better security and storage in a temperature controlled vault.

The following year, the AMS started renting out the collection and councillors returned to the issue of selling the collection.

Then-AMS President Ava Nasiri was in favour of selling the three most expensive pieces, while others cautioned against the faux pas of selling gifted works.

In 2017, the society took a second crack at a referendum to authorize the sale of four pieces.

While some students bristled at the idea of selling the paintings, unsure of where the money would go, the referendum ultimately passed and the sales were authorized.

Then, the AMS formed the AdHoc Committee for the Sale of Hatch Art Planning and Execution (SHAPE) in order to figure out which paintings to sell and what to do with the money.

After a year of inaction during which the committee met only twice, the

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY | FeAtureS | 11

A Recollection of Perfume Herb Gilbert

ille en uniforme Paul Lemieux

Northern Image Lawren Harris

Photos on this page taken by various photographers, courtesy of UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory

AMS promised SHAPE would be “revitalized.”

SHAPE identified two pieces with the highest likelihood of selling: The 1957 painting Jeune fille en uniforme

by Lemieux and a sculpture, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life by Rodney Graham.

Jeune fille is, at first glance, a simple work.

“It looks sort of innocuous, kind of charming, even sort of cute in a way,” said Belton, who wrote about the painting for Heffel’s catalogue. “And then you start thinking about it and looking a little more carefully and you realize it’s actually got a dark secret.”

The painting was on display at the Heffel Gallery in Vancouver from October 27 to 30. It is now making its way to galleries in Montreal and Toronto as part of the auction preview and, on November 21 at 4 p.m., the painting will be auctioned off in Toronto. Heffel noted that while the fine art auction house boasts an international clientele, works

by Canadian artists almost always make their way into the hands of Canadian collectors.

Earlier in 2018, the AMS was approached by Heffel, well-known to be the leader in the sale of Lemieux’s work. The auction house also holds the record sale of a Lemieux painting: Nineteen Ten Remembered sold for $2,340,000 in 2011.

At its August 1 Council meeting, the AMS approved the sale of Jeune fille en uniforme and consigned the work to Heffel. In a proposal document for the sale, Heffel estimated the painting would garner between $300,000 and $500,000 at auction.

Challenge + change While student apathy toward the collection is partly a result of

longstanding neglect, it also raises an important question: Why should we care now?

Why not just sell the rest of the collection, which was recently assessed at around $3.6 million? It would fund an immense amount of student art and maintenance of the remaining works — isn’t that the whole point of a student art gallery?

Not so fast, said Greer.

He believes the Group of Seven works by Lawren Harris and A.Y Jackson contribute an intrinsic value to the collection that cannot be replicated.

“If you get rid of them, then the importance of the collection is diminished,” he said.

The collection boasts two works

by Lawren Harris, perhaps the most famous and internationally recognized artist in the collection (even American comedian Steve Martin is an avid collector of Harris’ works).

Mountain Spirit and Northern Image are radiant, fluid abstract works that reflect Harris’ spiritualism and mysticism. Belton characterizes Harris’ work as evoking feeling beyond the visual in its viewers.

“It was never a painting of a mountain, it was always a painting of the feeling of transcendence … that the mountain provides.

The real trick is trying to make a painting of something that doesn’t exist visually, so to speak,” he said.

The collection is a unique representation of the Canadian art canon throughout history, said Greer. “But that canon always needs to be challenged and problematized.”

One work which does just that is Untitled by First Nations artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, who was commissioned for the work in 2003.

While the collection’s earlier landscape works depicted an

untouched British Columbia, Yuxweluptun — who is of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent — challenges the exclusion of Indigenous inhabitants who were connected to and living on the lands long before European settlers colonized the region with Untitled. The painting is also critical of the university’s relationship with First Nations and its place on unceded territory, reflecting marginalized histories that are demanding a voice more and more in the Canadian art landscape.

For these reasons, the AMS recognizes the permanent collection as an important and invaluable body of work, for enjoyment and for reflection alike.

But it is only recently that they are pushing to make the collection accessible to students.

Greer admits there is a “disconnect” between students and the collection. He cites some of the gallery’s past exhibits as an example. A poster advertising the 61st anniversary of the collection calls for semi-formal attire.

“It’s very fancy,” he said.

“I don’t want to move in that direction for the 70th anniversary show [in early 2019]. I want to open it up more and make the art and the history of the collection more palatable to people.”

Under the direction of Greer, the Hatch Art Gallery has made an effort to increase the visibility and accessibility of the collection.

The gallery’s front space displays two pieces from the collection on a rotating basis. A screen advertises the collection and volunteers hand out its catalogue which had previously sat in storage. Plans for the collection’s 70th anniversary in 2019 include an exhibition and tours of the vault.

But accessibility goes beyond visibility when it comes to making

students care about a living collection many may see as a relic.

“Art is a way to comment on the real world and society. It’s not just about colour and being pretty,” said Belton. He remembers a time when UBC Okanagan had a “controversy wall” in which contentious artworks were put on display to stoke academic discussion and debate.

Greer agreed.

“I think [students] should care because art conveys a lot of political, historical, social storylines and narratives that are important.

“

collecting this stuff with mentorship advice and all that is they are going to have their eyes peeled for things that are really good quality and really interesting ideas that aren’t just going to naturally come to mind,” he said.

“They’re going to be out and looking at things that are interesting, even if it appears on Instagram. Professor X doesn’t even know what Instagram is.”

The AMS permanent art collection has struggled to define itself, especially in the past few decades. But the collection is evidence of the power of student-

Art is a way to comment on the real world and society.

It’s not just about colour and being pretty.

”

Dr. Robert Belton, professor of art history

Rare responsibility Student-owned and curated collections are a rarity, which Greer and Belton argue is also why the AMS collection is a unique opportunity for art to empower.

“It’s a rarity to have a permanent collection that’s owned by students.

I think it should stay in the hands of students so that they have a hand in how it’s handled, its history and how it’s displayed,” said Greer.

Belton noted when students purchase and curate art, they do so with a unique worldview.

“The genius of the students

led art initiatives, reflecting evolving values and interests over decades of art history, cultural trends and student governments.

Besides tracking the progress of Canadian art, the collection tells us about ourselves — who we were, who we are and where we are going.

“As a student here, if you’re interested in the arts — particularly in the era of B.C. Binning — there was a lot of excitement, a lot movement, a lot of things going on [at the time],” said Greer.

“The collection was a really integral part that I don’t think can ever be recreated.” U

OPINIONS

november 6, 2018 TUesday

Editor TRISTAN WHEELER

12

division //

Mindfulness //

Letter: In its Shapiro statement, the AMS fails to promote unity

Mind Your Mind: Physical exercise to reduce anxiety

FILE ALEX NGUYEN

“If the AMS claims to be standing up against hate, they are doing a poor job.“

Noah Alter Contributor

On October 30, the AMS released a statement regarding UBC’s spookiest event this Halloween. Of course, this did not refer to a haunted house or Halloween party. This Halloween, UBC campus was haunted by the thoughts and views of the terrifying American pundit Ben Shapiro, and if you read the AMS’s statement regarding the event, you might almost think that I’m being serious.

If the AMS was seeking, as it says in their constitution, “to promote goodwill and unity,” it has failed dearly. Instead of promoting goodwill, they accused us of being deceitful about our intentions. They heavily implied that our ticket prices were designed to make the dialogue at the event exclusive, and that our only goal was to promote the views of Ben Shapiro, ignoring our history of hosting speakers from across the political spectrum. Instead of promoting unity, the AMS used hyperbolic terms in what can only be described as fear-mongering. While they could have reassured everyone that Ben Shapiro would cause no harm, they instead used terms like “intolerance and discrimination,” “threatened and targeted,” and “violence and marginalization.”

If the AMS claims to be standing up against hate, they are doing a poor job.

Last year, there was a wave of antisemitic incidents at UBC. White nationalist propaganda featuring antisemitic tropes was distributed on a campus building, a swastika was drawn and left on a chalkboard, and two AMS-constituted clubs, one of which was an anti-racism resource group, shared an article on their Facebook pages featuring conspiracy theories about Jews doing 9/11, something which both organizations apologized for. This year, a personal friend of mine found antisemitic graffiti one of the bathroom stalls of on of the Buchanan buildings. Apparently, none of these incidents warranted a response. Yet the AMS rushes to condemn any other form of perceived discrimination or hate.

In my view this does not leave some Jewish students with much confidence in the AMS either. It was so ready to tarnish the reputation of one of our community’s leading voices for what it perceives to be hateful comments towards other

communities while ignoring incidents of hate targeting our community.

Rather than promoting goodwill and unity, the AMS has failed to condemn hate in some instances while hyperbolizing it in others. I want an AMS that respects that students can have unity and goodwill amongst each other despite disagreements. This is a university — debating and discussing in order to seek truth is supposed to be encouraged, not condemned. Intellectual diversity should be responded to with curiosity, not hysteria.

In their statement, the AMS reaffirmed the right of our detractors to counter-protest. They made no such reaffirmation for us. This is no surprise given that the initial response from the AMS to this event taking place was to brainstorm ways to prevent it. Later in the statement, the AMS reminded those who feel targeted by Ben Shapiro that they have access to support services.

While the statement vaguely offered services to people who were “targeted” by Shapiro, it made no reference to those who may feel victimized by Shapiro’s opponents.

This isn’t unrealistic. According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2016 Shapiro was the most targeted victim of online hate speech.

Tweets sent to him reference him and his family (including his two kids) being thrown in a gas chamber. Our Facebook page saw many antisemitic comments in response to Ben Shapiro’s event, but apparently this was not worthy of condemnation either.

If the AMS wants to promote goodwill and unity, it has to stop ignoring real acts of hate and end the divisive fear-mongering. The AMS is blatantly failing to promote goodwill and unity, and as a practicing Jew and a politically active conservative, the only message I have been receiving from the AMS is that politics comes first and my welfare doesn’t matter. U

Daphnée Lévesque Mindfulness Columnist

When I was younger, I took horseback riding, swimming and dance lessons. I played soccer during the summer and ran on my school’s cross-country team in the spring. Growing up, my parents insisted I remain active. As a result, I was enrolled in multiple after school activities.

After my first mood episode, though, everything changed. I quit all my extracurricular activities and spent my time in bed instead. For the next six years, I did not exercise on a regular basis. It’s only in the past year or so that I’ve started engaging in physical activity again, and I have to admit exercise has been beneficial to my mental health.

I don’t need to tell you all about the benefits of exercise.

We all know that being active stimulates the production of these neat-feeling chemicals called endorphins, and that exercise helps to regulate our blood sugar, increase our level of concentration and is the perfect outlet for builtup frustration.

Research shows that physical activity is considered a powerful, effective method to reduce anxiety.

When you engage in regular exercise, you are biologically less prone to panic attacks and the hormones in your body are naturally regulated.

Although popular activities include running, swimming, indoor cycling, yoga, aerobics, working out at the gym and walking, I find that choosing an exercise program needs to be tailored to each individual’s needs and circumstances.

Therefore, instead of outlining the different types of activities available, I want to address what gets in the way of maintaining a regular exercise routine.

“It’s hard to motivate myself.

Exercise is so boring.”

“I don’t have time. I have other things to do. I’m too busy.”

“Having to exercise regularly is too inconvenient, expensive, and hard.”

Does that sound familiar? If you’re like me, you’ve already brainstormed a dozen reasons as to why exercising won’t work for you.

Since I’ve been there many times, let’s troubleshoot and figure out ways to overcome these obstacles.

better to start with a small goal and increase expectations as you see fit. Not everyone can commit to working out at the gym five times a week, and that’s okay. It’s also helpful to keep in mind that sometimes exercise can make you feel worse at first. If you haven’t been active in a while, you might feel pain in your body initially.

Pros and cons

If you don’t know where to begin, I’d suggest exploring your options and picking an activity you might find enjoyable. Community centres offer affordable classes, and they are usually equipped with skating rinks and badminton courts. Yoga studios and fitness centres also offer a variety of exercise classes.

As UBC students, we also benefit from student rates at the Birdcoop gym and recreation programs.

For cheap alternatives, I suggest planning outings with friends, like hikes in Pacific Spirit Park, bicycle rides along the Sea Wall, or joining a recreational sports league. Incorporating exercise in your daily life can be as simple as biking to work, or going on a stroll with your best friend late at night.

Oh, and by the way, I attended my first spin class more than a year ago, but I am still only going once a week. My own personal fitness program is probably not considered rigorous, but it gives me a standard I can maintain.

It’s a slow process, and still a work in progress. Like my friend said, “Once a week is better than nothing at all.” U

Making a pros and cons list seems easy to do in theory. However, I have found that when I sit down and write out the pros and cons of exercising vs. not exercising, I end up being able to look at the full picture.

This gives me the chance to not only reflect, but also examine the possible consequences, both positive and negative, of my future actions. It’s also helpful to keep your list of pros and cons somewhere accessible, so you can remind yourself on a daily basis of the benefits of exercise.

After achieving results, you’ll most likely start to believe in the power of exercise, and won’t need to convince your brain every single time.

Commitment and Rewards When you make a commitment to yourself and carry it through, you are boosting your confidence, but also improving your self-respect.

Making a commitment is an empowering form of self-care and implies responsibility as well as holding yourself accountable. On the flip side, rewarding yourself for achieving your goals gives you the opportunity to treat yourself, which will then increase your motivation.

Low expectations and gradual progress Setting unrealistic goals will only lead to potential failures, so it’s

Last tips

The authors of this column are not mental health professionals. If you need additional support, please contact Student Health Services, Sexual Assault Support Centre and/ or the Wellness Centre. In case of an emergency, call 911.

Noah Alter is a third-year international economics major and the president of the UBC Free Speech Club.

This is an opinion letter. To read coverage of the Shapiro event go to ubyssey.ca/news/. Completed opinion pieces can be submitted to opinion@ ubyssey.ca.

After achieving results, you’ll most likely start to believe in the power of exercise.

FILE STEPHANIE WU

FROM THE BLOG

november 6, 2018 tuesday

Editor tristan wheeler

13

safety //

How to get through the school year in one piece next move. You definitely do not want to slap a bee into your skin like I did.

Acorn scare ’Tis the season of acorns. Who knew that one of your biggest enemies on campus is an acorn, eh? One might fall on you every time you walk under an oak tree, so beware. After using your fightor-flight response to violently pick up the unknown from your body and throw it into the distance, have a good laugh!

That green thing dangling from the tree That’s a green caterpillar called a cankerworm. Keep your eyes peeled for them — you don’t want them ending up in your hair, face or mouth. We don’t mind if you do the limbo.

Wheels

I’ve never been stung by a bee in my lifetime before UBC.

Emily Kon Contributor

School is in full swing – you’re out of the isolation of your own home and back to being surrounded by people,

animals and the beautiful greenery of UBC. Finding yourself getting hurt or shocked by these fascinating elements or even just feeling embarrassed by thinking you are? Here are some safety tips for this new school year.

FILE THE UBYSSEY

BEES! I’ve never been stung by a bee in my lifetime before UBC — not even once! Campus has gifted me not one, but two new kisses in the

span of one month. Take it from me: if you feel something crawling on your skin, do not be quick to assume that it is a mosquito, an ant or any other bug for that matter.

Check it out before making your

Ah, skateboarding and cycling, two of the most convenient ways to get to class. But what if you have neither and every day is leg day? The last thing you want from your stroll or sprint to class is to be run over by a mode of transportation you don’t own.

So, never abruptly move left or right while walking. Take the time to watch out for incoming skateboarders and cyclists. U

Humour //

The Dingbat: The inner monologue of a UBC tour guide

Do people care about what I’m saying?

Angela O’Donnell Senior Staff Writer

The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s new humour column. You can submit completed pieces or pitches to a.odonnell@ubyssey.ca.

I’m sweating through my “ask me about UBC” shirt. It turns out that

FILE CHERIHAN HASSUN

going hard at Pit Night, hitting college night at Republic and then doing an early morning campus tour was not a good idea.

The fluorescent lights of Brock Hall are making me nauseous.

Today’s tour group is all eager-faced kids and their even more eager-faced parents. Their ambitious, beaming smiles blind

me, but not as much as their shiny, opulent watch faces.

As we start moving I hear keen whispers and chitters about the school. I think I felt like that once, excited to walk around in the rain for an hour, huddled on narrow cement walkways while I watched real university students hustle through dirt pathways

carved by years of academic feet.

But now, in my rain-soaked shoes and seven years into my degree, I can barely remember my parents.

As we walk, I start my spiel about campus.

“Founded in 1915, the university started as McGill University College of British Columbia.” Do people care about

what I’m saying, or do they just want to hear me talk about what Maclean’s has to say?

We walk past IKB and I tell the group about our excellent library and plentiful resources. I have never used the library or the great resources but I’m sure someone will if I tell them about it.

A parent asks me about class sizes. How do I tell them that I didn’t have a professor acknowledge my presence for the first three years of my degree?

“Classes can be large but they even out in upper levels,” I say with a thin-lipped grimace. I feel the McDouble I had last night churning in my stomach.

“What are the most popular extra curricular activities?”

Drinking and crying that you’re too poor to go out drinking, but I tell them about the wide range of activities from sports to more sports their child can do to keep the bleakness at arm’s length.

As we walk to the Rose Garden for a photogenic finish, a meeklooking teen asks me, “What’s unique about UBC?” How do I answer that? The never-ending rain that soaks your clothes and your soul, that all the arts buildings are haunted or that once you make it down to Wreck Beach your legs will give out, you’ll never make it back out and you might as well die there.

With all my remaining energy I tell them, “The lifelong friends you’ll make and the prestigious degree you’ll have.” What bullshit. U

14 | from the blog | tuESDAY november 6, 2018 left on read //

What to do when all your friends are busy studying and don’t want to talk to you Sammy Smart Staff Writer

For some, midterms end after a week. For others they come in waves. For those who are done midterms, they might be wondering what to do when their friends are all busy studying.

Here are a few ideas of how to cope with being friendless for a few weeks.

Start studying for finals It’s never too early to start, right?

Start reviewing material from the beginning of the semester so you’re completely prepared once finals hit. Maybe you can see your friends by sitting at a table together silently while you all read over your notes. Maybe they will stop ignoring you for a minute to talk about how much they hate their major.

Pick up a new hobby If you feel like you have some free time, working on a skill or hobby can make the time fly. Take up knitting, coding or something else

you’ve always wanted to do. Maybe you’ll make new friends this way — ones who aren’t so busy studying they can’t text you back.

Learn something new Have you ever associated a colour with a number? Look up why. Figure out that maybe you have synaesthesia. Look up what synaesthesia is. Go down a Wikipedia hole of famous synaesthetes. Now you’re an expert on it. How fun is that? A lot more fun than trying to make plans with people for hours to no avail because everyone is crying all over their textbooks.

Make new friends in a simulation game Bust out that old Sims 2 disc you have lying around somewhere and just make new friends. Friends who don’t go to school. Friends who don’t ignore your text messages.

Friends who hang out with you all the time because they care about you. Sims friends don’t give up on you because of midterms — Sims friends are forever. U

Sims friends don’t give up on you because of midterms.

FILE JACK HAUEN

icy depths //

Sand and accomplishment: Jumping into the ocean every morning for a week

By some masochistic drive, I began setting rules for myself.

Johann Cooper Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, I met a student on the 99 coming home one

Friday night. He stumbled his way onto the bus and collapsed into the seat beside me. Completely unprompted, he began speaking about his exhaustion brought on by

SHAVONNE YU

daily jumps into the ocean. I didn’t believe him. No one would mention something this random unless they were asking for confrontation. I liked a challenge and I told him

that I wanted to try this exercise for myself. Here’s what happened.

I live off-campus and Wreck Beach is a good 35-minute commute between bussing and the over 500 steps. I woke up at 5:45 a.m. to have enough time to make breakfast and apply deodorant. Lacking a bathing suit, I squeezed into my tightest pair of compression shorts before running for the bus. Once at Wreck, I cased out the beach for my friend from the 99. To no one’s surprise, I was alone; my friend from the 99 was nowhere in sight. I stripped off my clothes and rather than slowly walking into the water, I charged from the coast into the void. The Pacific felt hellish on my skin and filled my head with regret. I loathed every second and gave up quickly before frantically retreating to the warmth of my towel.

Maybe it was the morning sun or my thawing lower-half, but after I left the water I began to feel a drastic shift in my emotions. I felt accomplished and motivated to attack the day. I was more focused and engaged in my 8 a.m. lecture than ever before and I found homework easier to complete. But not everything was peachy.

One of my initial motivators was a desire to see the sunrise at Wreck every morning. I had failed to realize, however, that

Wreck faces west. Consequently, my beach was the worst possible choice for viewing the sunrise.

Every day, I also consistently failed to keep sand out of my pants. This was a huge problem.

Everywhere I walked I left a trail behind me. Every seat I sat in provided too much friction.

Wafts of salty air followed me as I walked. I was a crustacean in need of a hot shower and clean clothes.

However, I consistently looked forward to my morning dips. By some masochistic drive, I began setting rules for myself: A swim couldn’t be counted if it didn’t last for at least a minute and if my head wasn’t submerged for half that time. Any onlooker would have had good reason to view my frantic splashing and yelps of pain as someone in serious need of a lifeguard.

Since that initial week, I have continued to jump in the ocean regularly. I feel an honest joy in this ritual and continue to value it’s benefits. I have even met a few other morning swimmers in the process. I sincerely encourage anyone to try this activity for themselves. I think it is important to monitor how you feel afterward and continue accordingly. Regardless, I believe any and all experiences with your morning plunge will defy initial expectations, for better or worse. U

SCIeNCe

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY

EDITOR JAMES VOGL

15

RADIOACTIve BUCKS //

Trudeau announces funding for new medical isotope research facility at TRIUMF James vogl Science Editor

The federal government is contributing over $10 million to the the construction of a new dedicated nuclear medicine building, the Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI), on the TRIUMF research campus.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this support November 1 during his visit to TRIUMF. Located just south of Wesbrook Village, TRIUMF is Canada’s particle accelerator centre, conducting a wide variety of research on the different uses of radioactive isotopes — variants of different elements — among other topics.

In addition to federal funding, the province of British Columbia has contributed over $12 million, TRIUMF is contributing over $5 million and both BC Cancer and UBC are contributing $2 million, bringing the total funds allocated to the project to over $30 million.

“The new Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes will unite world-leading experts across industry, academia and government,” said Trudeau.

The new facility will expand on existing TRIUMF research into nuclear medicine in several important ways, featuring onsite facilities that will allow it to produce several valuable medical isotopes. These include Technetium-99m (TC-99m),

which is an integral component of many common diagnostic tests for diseases like cancer.

Ensuring a steady supply of this isotope became a particularly pressing issue with the March 2018 shutdown of the Chalk River reactor, which produced about a third of the world’s TC-99m.

Besides TC-99m, the IAMI will also feature production facilities for radiotracers that are commonly used in positron emission topography (PET) scans.

These tracers are created using specific isotopes that are only radioactive for a brief period of time. Once these radiotracers are in the body, they react with other particles, giving off an energy signature that is picked up by specialized scanners and used to create an image of internal structures.

When combined with other imaging techniques, PET scans can give healthcare providers a much more complete picture of what is going on with a patient.

These scans and the radiotracers they rely on are also useful in the drug development process, as they allow researchers to track the flow of drugs through the body and see which specific body systems they affect.

The expanded isotope production at the IAMI will be made possible partly through the use of a new TR-24 cyclotron, one of the most advanced particle

The federal government has high expectations for the eventual impact of the new institute.

accelerators in the world for producing medical isotopes.

Beyond isotope production facilities, the IAMI will also serve as a hub for research into new cancer therapies, building on existing TRIUMF work in nuclear medicine like a proton therapy that targets difficult-to-treat tumours that occur at the back of the eye.

“Together, we will develop leading edge, highly-targeted cancer therapies, with access to the rarest and most advanced isotopes available,” said BC Cancer VP Research Dr. François Bénard.

The federal government has high expectations for the eventual impact of the new institute, citing a hope for the generation of new employment and education

JAMES vOGL

opportunities in addition to new research and discoveries.

“On top of the many direct medical benefits Canadians will receive through better research and science, the innovation that will happen here will create good jobs, spark entrepreneurship and provide an incredible training ground for the leaders of today and tomorrow,” said Trudeau. U

weeD SCIeNCe //

Study: THC and CBD are less important influences on effects of cannabis than previously thought Micah Killjoy Contributor

“There’s an amazing potential here to discover new chemicals that can be useful medicine.”

KRISTINE hO

For many consumers of cannabis, one of the most exciting things about legalization is the labeling of cannabinoid levels on cannabis products. The cannabinoid amounts that are usually listed on government-controlled cannabis are Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) — the two most well-known variables in strains for their impact on a cannabis user’s high and their medical effects.

However, a new UBC Okanagan study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports in August shows that THC and CBD are much less important factors than previously thought.

Dr. Susan Murch’s lab studies the biochemistry of plants that affect human health, discovering new chemicals in the process.

PhD candidate Elizabeth Mudge worked with Murch and the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s (BCIT) Dr. Paula Brown to compare the CBD and THC levels in 33 different cannabis strains.

They found that despite all the exotic names, 24 of those strains were too similar in CBD and THC makeup to warrant their differently-advertised effects. However, the study did detect previously-unknown compounds that differ between the strains and are potentially related to both the differences in

pharmacological and perceived effects.

“Just knowing THC and CBD is not enough, we need to know more about the other molecules that are there,” said Murch.

The study took place both at UBC and BCIT, in part because BCIT is licensed to work with cannabis while UBC is not.

“I never thought I would work on cannabis,” Murch said.

“There’s an amazing potential here to discover new chemicals that can be useful medicine — useful treatment for various ailments, especially things like pain management and other chronic conditions.”

She also stated that though the discovery process will take many years, the recent legalization has caused “a lot of talented scientists from across the country [to think] about things we could do with cannabis,” many of whom will be striving to continue making new discoveries with pharmaceutical applications.

“The strains are all coming from a very narrow gene pool,” she said. “They originated from people who were growing cannabis, probably illegally, who just picked a variant that seemed different somehow.”

Now that cannabis is legal, the improved ease of studying the substance may allow scientists to breed varieties for specific health outcomes, improving Canadian consumers’ understanding of the substances that they consume. U

SpORTS+ReC

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY

EDITOR LUCY FOX

16

cArletoN rAVeNS The Ravens finished the regular season sitting atop the OUA East table, tied on points with the Ryerson Rams.

They are, statistically speaking, one of the best teams in all the leagues, proof of which is their startling goal difference of +54 in the regular season. Apart from their loss to the Lions on Saturday November 3 for the OUA title, they’ve recorded just one loss all season.

Carleton featured strongly in the OUA awards as well, having bagged six OUA All-Star picks, Most Valuable Player in the East with Dario Conte and Coach of the Season with Kwesi Loney. The Ravens embody strength in numbers as multiple members of the team pitch in to create their stellar performances, showing consistency on attack and defense. Their hunger, possession-play and all-round talent this season could set them up in prime position to win it all.

KrIStIAN YlI-hIetANeN Striker Kristian YliHietanen had an unreal back half to the season, pocketing over 10 goals in his 13+ games this season. He has been a thriller for T-Bird fans. Since his epic breakout game against the University of Northern British Columbia

on September 30, when he netted four goals during the match, he has continued to impress. Since then, he has been the poster boy up front for UBC and a centrepiece around the box that opposing teams have struggled to contain. Yli-Hietanen is a physical presence at 6’1” that has a keen eye for holes in an opposing team’s back line.

ubc thuNDerbIrDS

gAbrIel bItAr The 2017 OUA East Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year has been phenomenal for the Ravens again this season. He is the third-highest goal-scorer in the division and sits second in points. Interestingly, he also has the most shots in the division and has scored six gamewinning goals. His skill with the ball and ability to skip away from defenders makes him a player to watch out for at the front of the Raven offense. His aggression and work ethic, coupled with his ability to secure game-changing moments could prove the ace the Ravens need to challenge for that national title this year.

cANADA WeSt

After claiming the Canada West division title this past weekend against the Trinity Western Spartans, UBC will look to continue their positive string of games into the nationals tournament — and perhaps claim gold as they host for the first time since 2007. The Thunderbirds posted the best regular season results in Canada West Pacific at 13-1-2. The only loss for the ’Birds came at the hands of the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack in the final game of the season after UBC had secured top spot and rested a few players in the second of a back-to-back road weekend. The rock solid defensive play of the T-Birds this season alongside superb goalkeeping from Jason Roberts has earned them eight clean sheets. Roberts held the collective opposition to just 7 goals in 14 games.

Evidently, they are a bit of a powerhouse in the West. It remains to be seen how they will line up against the rest of the country’s best.

trINItY WeSterN SpArtANS Trinity chased the heels of UBC for top spot in the Pacific all season, ending on an 8-3-4 record, though they dropped their last two regular season games. This veteran team has 11 players in their fourth or fifth year, bringing lots of cohesive experience to their playoff run.

The team averaged just over two goals a game in the regular season, putting in a total of 34 goals. That said, the team only recorded two clean sheets, allowing an average of 1.47 goals against. If the Spartans want to continue their regular season success in the national tournament, they may need to tighten up on the back end. The Spartans are looking to break some hearts just down the road from home and perhaps upset their Canada West title-vanquisher: the T-Birds.

YorK lIoNS The Lions have dominated the OUA West for the last six years, winning the division five times. They are the backto-back and current champions of the men’s soccer OUA division, with six of their players featuring on the OUA All-Star team this season. This year’s OUA final only goes to show that they are far more lethal than they appear on paper, having beaten the Carleton Ravens — who looked like the stronger side according to statistics throughout the game — 3-1 to retain their title.

The Lions last won the U Sports Championship in 2015 and will be looking to add this year’s title to their five-title tally. They head to UBC riding high on confidence and a ten-game winning streak in tow. The Lions are highly organized, resulting in dominant performances against Ontario region opponents.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY CARLETON RAvENS AThLETICS; COURTESY ROB BLANChARD/UNB MEDIA SERvICES; COURTESY CAPE BRETON CAPERS; COURTESY CAPE BRETON CAPERS; COURTESY UQAM CITADINS; COURTESY MONTREAL CARABINS; COURTESY MONTREAL CARABINS; COURTESY MARC LAFLEUR/YORK LIONS; COURTESY TRINITY WESTERN SPARTANS; COURTESY RICh LAM/UBC ThUNDERBIRDS; COURTESY UBC ThUNDERBIRDS

NOvEMBER 6, 2018 tueSDAY | SportS | 17

uNb VArSItY reDS

Going unbeaten in their last eight matches of the season, New Brunswick will get a chance to dance this weekend.

Fuelled by an AUS leading attack, the Reds were able to clinch a U Sports championship berth with an 2-1 double overtime win over St. Francis Xavier.

New Brunswick’s strongest game of the year was an 11-0 thrashing of Mount Allison and is a perfect example of why they

UBC men’s soccer have been on fire this season, and is the host school for the national tournament starting Thursday, November 8.

They’ve got some stiff competition coming from further east, including reigning champions the Cape Breton Capers and their 2017 national title dreamdestroyers the Montreal Carabins, plus several other teams who are hungry for gold. here’s who will be gracing Thunderbird Stadium this-coming weekend for some top-class soccer, alongside some of their top talent.

words by Lucy Fox, Ryan Neale, Scott young & Sherwyn Kalyan Design by Claire Lloyd

oNtArIo uNIVerSItY AthletIcS (ouA)

Quebec StuDeNt Sport FeDerAtIoN (rSeQ)

should be taken seriously this weekend. In the aforementioned game, Grant Takacs netted a hat-trick alongside a plethora of other goals from too many players to name. Simply put, their high-octane offense is as opportunistic as it is skilled.

UNB will be a bit of a dark horse this coming weekend with a diverse group experience-wise who aren’t afraid to pull their weight — and also launch some deadly through-balls.

cApe bretoN cAperS corY beNt Entering his third U Sports championship, forward Cory Bent is well aware of what it takes to win. He led the Capers in goals and points this season — seven and ten respectively — driving their powerful attack forward.

Primarily playing on the left wing, Bent finds himself in the 18-yard box quite often, where his finishing skills are best utilized. His speed and cunning ability to slice inside of defenders to attain goal-side advantage is where most of his damage occurs.

AtlANtIc uNIVerSItY Sport (AuS)

The Cape Breton Capers, the defending national champions, went unbeaten this regular season — winning their third consecutive AUS championship with a 10-0-2 record. Spurred by an attacking style of play, they’ve cracked 14 shots per game on average, fueling a total of 36 goals scored across 12 matches (averaging three a game, which is good for second in the league). More impressively, they’ve only conceded five goals the entire season — ranked first in the AUS — a testament to their capable defence and midfield. Beyond that, expect an experienced team that uses its wings to move the ball before cutting in and finding an open man.

Their best game of the year was a 6-0 demolition of Saint Mary’s on October 12. In that game, defender and league MVP Peter Schalle scored a hat-trick to complement goals from Marcus Campanile and Mitchell Wong.

uQAm cItADINS

moNtreAl cArAbINS The reigning RSEQ divisional champions earned their second-consecutive title banner with a 3-0 win over fellow national representative the UQAM Citadins on November 2. This year, the Carabins have been an offensive powerhouse, scoring 30 goals throughout the season — 12 more than anything other Quebecois side. That said, they had the league’s lowest goalsagainst tally at 9, proving they’ve got a solid defensive rotation too.

They are a highly-organized team who are not only capable of racking up goals in their more dominant games, but can also squeak out a win in their tougher matchups.

History is perhaps on their side too, as the Carabins made it all the way to the national final last season. They’ve been in the high-stakes games, they’ve lost on the biggest stage in Canadian university soccer and they are likely out for some redemption.

FrÉDÉrIc lAJoIe-grAVelle Lajoie-Gravelle is Montreal’s definitive all-star this year. With more than double the points of any of his teammates this year, he is the RSEQ leading goal scorer with 14 in 12 games. That makes him the all-time points leader in RSEQ history.

The 25-year-old is a former Montreal Impact academy recruit, and is this year’s RSEQ player of the year to boot. He scored in seven of his side’s games this year, including a hat trick against Sherbrooke.

The Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins had a less straightforward run to the national finals — which perhaps plays in their favour.

From season start, the Citadins played consistent soccer. Though maybe not as flashy as the Carabins, they are a team that can get the job done — three of their five wins this year were won by just one goal. On the other hand, this could be a point of worry against some of Canada’s best who are goal-hungry.

Defensively, though, they are a formidable force. They shared the lowest goals-against tally with fellow RSEQ national representatives, the Carabins, at just nine all year. They are lead by a core of senior players in the back, which lends well to their playing style going into nationals this year. If the older guys on the roster can continue to lead by example and maybe even bang a few goals in, which they have been doing this year, the Citadins will be ones to watch this coming weekend as an outside threat for the title.

18 | SportS+rec | tueSDAY NOvEMBER 6, 2018 LOveBIRDS //

Swipe right: Thunderbird Athletes Council is sharing UBC’s eligible athletes with campus through ‘Tinderbird’

The featured athletes usually associate with the hype game of the week previously decided by the TAC.

elizabeth wang Photo Editor

If you haven’t figured out who to take to your holiday party, you

probably want to look at the UBC Thunderbird Athletes Council (TAC) Instagram account.

The council started a “Tinderbird” section on its account

ILEANA SOzA

in September, featuring one student athlete every Monday.

“It’s ... for athletes to connect with other athletes and to find another social media platform

naTIOnaL MEn'S SOCCER CHaMPIOnSHIP University of British Columbia Nov. 8-11, 2018 gothunderbirds.ca/MSN Cheer on your UBC Thunderbirds in their bid for the National Championship title.

First UBC game: Thursday Nov 8, 6:30pm

where people can engage in other teams,” said Council President and rower Kristina Walker. “Then they’d be more inclined to go out to other teams’ games because they know people on those teams.”

The Tinderbird posts contain a brief biography and several social media links of the featured T-Bird, just like normal Tinder, minus the ability to actually swipe.

The featured athletes usually associate with the hype game of the week previously decided by the TAC. For example, Tinderbird Sara Goodman from the women’s field hockey team and women’s soccer goalkeeper Emily Moore have been featured in conjunction with their hype games over the last month.

“The TAC does a hype week for almost every week, but for each team we promote a game with that team and try to get a bunch of people out. Then if there’s a hype game in that certain week, we let that team choose whom they want to promote,” said Nikki Mallow, the TAC’s social media coordinator.

“On off weekends … certain teams will nominate [the athlete for Tinderbird] and then it will be randomly selected.”

As a student-run organization, the TAC works to connect student athletes on campus, to

promote the varsity teams and games, and to provide a platform for athlete voices. Because of that, the TAC has a different promotional strategy than the athletic department — they want to shed light on individuals on top of highlighting whole teams.

“We know the athletes a little better, so we can do things like Tinderbird or re-post some of the athletes’ stories,” said Mallow. “We also want our posts to be a little more personal.”

So far, the TAC is pretty satisfied with how Tinderbird is being received by their primary audience: fellow athletes.

“They [have] enjoyed it. I have some people come up to me and be like, ‘This is a great addition.’” said Mallow.

Going forward, Tinderbird may be a good way to get more of campus involved in sport. Though the initiative is currently mostly targeted at athletes, their account is public on Instagram — thus, an opportunity for campus to get involved if they so choose.

“We have a campus of 60,000 students,” Walker said. “We should be targeting as many people as possible to come out to games, getting in that sports culture and experiencing the fun that we have while we play the sport.” U

november 6, 2018 TUESDAY | Sports+REC | 19 NAMES TO NOTE //

October’s Athlete of the Month: Wide receiver Trivel Pinto Ryan Neale Senior Staff Writer

The game clock strikes zero at Investors Group Field in Manitoba to close out a disappointing first half for UBC football. They’re down 31-13 to the Manitoba Bisons in a pivotal 2018 regular season finale that has big playoff implications. Head coach Blake Nill is animated in the locker room, livid by the nonchalant demeanor of his team during a game of such importance. It seems nothing is going right for the T-Birds.

The team has a choice to make: carry on playing sloppy football like pretenders, or overcome adversity and show people they’re contenders.

For star wide receiver Trivel Pinto, it isn’t even a choice — stepping up is in his nature; he’s a contender.

Winning UBC’s fourth Vanier Cup in 2015 as a rookie was Pinto’s greatest moment as a Thunderbird. Three years later, he wanted a repeat against the Bisons in what is most likely his last year in the blue and gold before he turns pro.

With the second half coming to a close, quarterback Michael O’Connor calmly drops into his pocket to throw a 46-yard dime to his most trusted receiver with 7.5 minutes left in the game. Pinto flips the switch and leaves his double coverage in the dust on his vertical route. The defense never stood a chance. The ref blows his whistle and signals touchdown UBC. The score levels and the T-Birds overcome an 18-point halftime deficit to win the game with a walk-off touchdown in overtime, beating Manitoba 38-34.

This win was a true testament to the team’s fortitude that has been forged by Nill and his staff during their time at UBC. And the veterans know all too well about the mental preparation it takes to win championships.

“After the Manitoba game, we’re on the plane, [and] Stavros [Katsantonis], [Michael] O’Connor and I were having a conversation of how great of a feeling it was and how much we want another ring,” Pinto said.

“We want the young guys to have that same experience, cause there’s really no words that can put that into perspective.”

Growing up, the Brampton, Ontario native originally played soccer, as many kids do. He eventually branched out into other sports like basketball to further improve his athletic potential.

“I didn’t start playing football until Grade 8 or 9,” he recalled.

Surprisingly, Pinto began his football career at quarterback, which explains the perfect spiral on his warm up passes. More importantly, it explains his success lined up in the slot and out wide.

He understands the QB’s vision

In the playoffs, Pinto’s workload didn’t ease off and he was well aware of that.

of the field, specifically the areas preferred and the pockets avoided by the signal callers. It was only in Grade 11 of high school that Pinto transitioned to receiver — a position where his speed and handeye coordination are best utilized.

The decision to attend UBC wasn’t exactly on his radar at the time. A trip to British Columbia with a friend who was also looking to join the team led to a conversation with Nill, who was just starting his own tenure with

Pinto dodges a tackle from the Alberta Golden Bears.

RYAN NEALE

the ’Birds. “[Nill] told me about his history, he told me about Michael O’Connor and a few of the other guys coming out. I really liked it here and felt it was a good fit for me.”

Pinto officially committed to

SALOMON MICKO BENRIMOH

UBC in May of 2015, unsure of what it took to play varsity ball.

One national championship and countless big plays later, Pinto — now in his fourth year — posted the best numbers of his career. In seven regular season games this season, he’s notched 67 receptions (ranked first in Canada West league play), 914 yards (ranked second in CW) and 6 touchdowns (also ranked second in CW).

In the month of October alone, which saw three make-itor-break-it games for the ’Birds, Pinto averaged 10.3 receptions, 154.3 yards and 1.3 touchdowns per game. That doesn’t include his kick return duties or his occasional rushing play.

In the playoffs, Pinto’s workload didn’t going to ease off­— and he was well aware of that. “I’m prepared to do anything coach asks me to, I’m ready to play defense, kickoffs ... it doesn’t matter what it is.”

If the Thunderbirds had defeated a hungry Saskatchewan squad this weekend, they would have most likely faced Calgary for the fourth consecutive year in the Hardy Cup final. The team knows they have to take it one game at a time, but a prospective matchup against the Dinos is too tasty not to ponder given the heated state of the rivalry.

“I think in the conference, we match up the best against Calgary,” Pinto said. “We’ve just started to hit our stride now. We’ve won the last three and I really feel like this team is coming together at the right time, everyone is playing their best football.”

When Pinto’s time at UBC is complete, he believes the team has a bright future ahead of them.

To him, this is best exemplified by the young players on the squad rising up and filling holes left by injured veterans this season. The T-Birds have already prepared for life without Pinto by signing the number-one ranked wide receiver in the province: Keelan White out of North Vancouver’s Handsworth Secondary.

Speaking to his own future, Pinto aspires to be a first-round draft pick in the 2019 Canadian Football League Draft, and later hopes to showcase his skills down south in the National Football League (NFL).

When asked which NFL player he most emulates, Pinto responded with a grin, “Probably Antonio Brown.”

And you can certainly see the resemblance. For four seasons, Pinto has consistently terrorized U Sports defenses, been a safety net for his quarterbacks in dire situations and has offered mentorship to his teammates.

All of these qualities not only indicate an NFL star in the making, but more importantly point to a respected leader who will go far in life wherever he ends up. U

20 | gAmeS | tueSDAY, NOvEMBER 6, 2018

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