September 13, 2022

Page 1

06 CULTURE SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 | VOLUME CIV | ISSUE VI CHERISHING YESTERDAY SINCE 1918 Trust me: TryKBBQSura’s 10 12 13 BLOG The Dingbat: UBChorrortwo-sentencestories SCIENCE Researcher uses ultrasound to make stickier bandages SPORTS Tolnai CanadaleadsWestingoals 08 FEATURES Tech repair is anissueequityU THE UBYSSEY

Developer Mei

THE UBYSSEY

judgment of appropriate content. Submissions may be sent by email to opinion@ ubyssey.ca. Please include your student number or other proof of identification. Anonymous submissions will be accepted on extremely rare occasions. Requests for anonymity will be granted upon agreement from fourfifths of the editorial board. Full opinions policy may be found at ubyssey.ca/pages/submit-an-opinion It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the UPS fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad.

Developer Keegan

The Ubyssey accepts opinion articles on any topic related to UBC and/or topics relevant to students attending UBC. Submissions must be written by UBC students, professors, alumni or those in a suitable position (as determined by the opinion editor) to speak on UBC-related matters. Submissions must not contain

Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia (UBC). It is published every second Tuesday by the Ubyssey Publications Society (UPS). We are an autonomous, democratically-run student organization and all students are encouraged to participate. Editorials are written by The Ubyssey’s editorial board and they do not necessarily reflect the views of the UPS or UBC. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of the UPS. 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

ON THE COVER COVER Isabella Falsetti YOUR GUIDE TO UBC PEOPLEPAGE 2 2SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY U Coordinating Editor Charlotte Alden coordinating@ubyssey.ca Visuals Editor Mahin E Alam visuals@ubyssey.ca News Editors Nathan Bawaan and Anabella McElroy news@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Tova Gaster culture@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Miriam Celebiler sports@ubyssey.ca Business Manager Douglas Baird business@ubyssey.ca Account Manager Forest Scarrwener advertising@ubyssey.ca

Website: ubyssey.ca Twitter: @ubyssey Instagram: @ubyssey Facebook: @ubyssey EDITORIAL BUSINESS CONTACT

Web Landrigan

(Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and səli lwətaɁɬ/Selilwitulh

The guiding principles.

We wish to acknowledge that we work, learn and operate the paper upon the occupied, traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəyəm

Jalen

k.landrigan@ubyssey.ca Editorial Office: NEST 604.283.20232208 Business Office: NEST The604.283.20242209Nest6133University Blvd. Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Video Producer Charles Brockman video@ubyssey.ca Opinion + Blog Editor Iman Janmohamed opinion@ubyssey.ca Science Editor Sophia Russo science@ubyssey.ca Photo Editor Isabella Falsetti photo@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Paloma Green features@ubyssey.ca

“I wrote instead that should have been a sign,” Goldfarb said.

OUR CAMPUS

“I was thinking of changing my career path, and the only way I understood to change a career path was to take a different degree,” Goldfarb said. “The first thing they said to me when I walked in the door was ‘library or archives’ and I thought, well, I really liked looking up those old newspapers [for my dissertation].”NowGoldfarb is the foremost expert on UBC history and AMS code and bylaws. Despite his knowledge about the university, his other interests have only expanded as he’s gotten older. He has now been able to publish numerous books in genres ranging from commentary on Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories to narrative fiction to the aforemen tioned year-by-year chronicle of UBC history and continues writing to thisWhileday.Goldfarb may not have expected to become the AMS archivist, by following his interests he has found the perfect position for himself. “It’s sort of like it’s a retrospective discovery: Oh, the reason I like this job is I’m doing what I always used to do from the time I was a kid.”

Social Lee social@ubyssey.ca

“You can go from science to journalism to thinking you’re going to write novels, to studying English literature to being an archivist and writing a history book …. So don’t worry about it. It’s going to come around to those things that you like to do.” U

At 17, Sheldon Goldfarb was writing novels. Now he tells stories differ ently, cataloguing 114 years of UBC history as the AMS’s archivist. Goldfarb’s office is large, a far cry from the cramped space described by visitors to his office in the old Student Union Building — known today as the Life Building. His office is cluttered but not full; pieces of an in-progress woodworking project sit in the corner behind his desk, his master’s thesis is among a stack of volumes helmed by papers beside his computer; and though the space is lacking in bookshelves, it is not lacking in Goldfarbbooks.appears unassuming, sitting with legs crossed facing his window, an AMS thermos perched on his knee. Yet as he tells stories of UBC history, he effortlessly fills the space, often veering on sweeping tangents and occasionally pulling out his book on UBC history — The Hundred Year Trek — or opening his computer for a reference. But nearly all of his stories were told from memory.Goldfarb has been an archivist for the AMS for 28 years, nearly a quarter of the time of UBC’s exis tence.“While I [attended] the [UBC] archives school, I thought about how maybe I’ll get to go archive the papers of Malcolm Lowry or something like that,” but instead he found that “the job and I work well

Media Manager Shereen

This took him to the Universi ty of Manchester where he tried and failed to prove the war was caused by the new economic sys tem of capitalism. “The failure in Manchester taught me something about what not to do ... if you know what you’re going to find, it’s not research.”Heleft Manchester and came to UBC to take a few literature cours es, completing two graduate degrees in English literature. “When I finished that, I didn’t want to be a teacher … I never felt comfortable at the front of the classroom.”

LEGAL SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 | VOLUME CIV | ISSUE VI Become a Ubyssey staff member! 1. Attend three staff meetings (Fridays at 4 p.m. in room 2208 in the AMS Nest or online). 2. C ontribute three times to The Ubyssey ! This can mean writing three articles, taking three photos or videos, making three illustrations or helping with copyediting three times. Or you can mix and match! 3. Attend your third staff meeting with those three contributions, and The Ubyssey ’s staff members will vote you in!

“If you asked me ‘Do you want to spend your time looking up infor mation about a student society?’” he said. “[The subject] doesn’t matter. It’s the finding out that matters.”

So he pursued further educa tion, enrolling in library school after hearing about it from a peer.

President Bachra president@ubyssey.ca

Sheldon Goldfarb’s long road to exactly the right place

Jocelyn Baker Contributor

He wrote for the McGill student newspaper, The McGill Daily, so his initial inclination was to choose a field more in line with journalism. He switched to sociology, where he ended up enjoying a history-ori ented course so much that “it con vinced [him] to switch into history and go study the English Civil War.”

Sheldon Goldfarb holds his book up

(Tsleil-Waututh).racism,

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

sexism, homophobia, transphobia, harassment or discrimination. Authors and/or submissions will not be precluded from publication based solely on association with particular ideologies or subject matter that some may find objectionable. Approval for publication is, however, dependent on the quality of the argument and The Ubyssey editorial board’s The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ads.

together,” and stayed with the AMS. He describes himself as always having been like a “human encyclo pedia,” but it may be more accurate to describe Goldfarb as an oral historian — a storyteller and keeper of seemingly endless knowledge. From a young age, he wanted to absorb as much information as he couldGoldfarbfind. was always quick to share the knowledge he gained from books. One incident from the fifth grade sticks out in his memory where he was insisting that Mars was the next planet closest to the sun after earth — something he remembered reading in one of the series of books called the ‘All About’ books which he was obsessed with as a child. It wasn’t until someone pointed to their textbook where it said Venus was in fact the next plan et that he gave it up. While Goldfarb says he no longer insists on his correctness, he was sure to jokingly point out any apparent disagree ments between his archives’ facts and those of other UBC organiza tions.“As the archivist I can tell you when [Storm The Wall] started: 1980, which I tried to explain to the people over in [UBC]Athletics, but they still insist it’s 1978.”

Though Goldfarb’s work in archiving and telling the story of UBC seems to fit him well, his path to the AMS was anything but clear. While he wanted to write novels, he studied the sciences for two years “to get a proper job.” But while all seemed well from the outside, he realized that it didn’t matter if his grades were alright if he “did not understand physics” and “didn’t do science in [his] spare time.”

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

Web Chi Chin m.chin@ubyssey.ca

Despite his enthusiasm for UBC history, Goldfarb is quick to say that he has never been uniquely passion ate about any one subject. Instead, it is learning new information, rather than the information itself, that has always fascinated him.

Heer affirmed the operational fund surplus will be put to support students and UBC’s academic mission.

and University Affairs Dana Turdy, the AMS’s Peer Support service can provide education to different UBC clubs and student groups around naloxone training, and general safety around substance use.

Turdy said that the AMS is also working with various organizations regarding drug safety and testing, including SHCS on residence contracts which currently threaten disciplinary action against those found to be in possession of illicit substances.Turdyalso said the AMS plans to work with Get Your Drugs Tested, a free, private drug testing organization. Last year, the Social Justice Centre and AMS co-host ed a drug testing event with the organization. U

While it is unclear what the surplus was used for, UBC Media Relations pointed to the 2022/23 budget which indicates large increases in spending towards initiatives in the people and places, local and global engagement, sus tainment, risk & compliance and strategic plan enablement focus areas between the 2021/22 and 2022/23 fiscal years. UBC Media

Suspect charged in NW Marine Drive tragedy

The findings from this report match what is found in UBC’s 2021/22 financial statement. The university’s revenue from tuition and student fees, sales and services, and investment income increased by $62 million, $139 million and $55 million respectively between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 fiscal years.UBC’s reported expenditures, however, differ from the Statistics Canada report which found a 3.8 per cent decrease in university expenditures. Over the past three years, UBC’s expenditures have increased from $2.29 billion in 2019/20, to $2.84 billion in 2020/21 to $3.05 billion in 2021/22. U

Harm reduction efforts at UBC have historically been led by student groups.

The Canadian Union of Pub lic Employees (CUPE) 2278 announced a campaign to unionize research assistants, academ ic assistants and other student workers. The union currently rep resents teaching assistants (TAs), tutors, markers and instructors in the English Language Institute at UBC. If 55 per cent of eligible employees sign union cards, the union can be automatically certi fied. If 45 per cent sign, a vote will be held to decide whether or not to unionize.

NEWS BRIEFS FINANCE //

Theunits.AMS also plans on providing

In a statement to The Ubyssey, Karamjeet Heer, UBC’s interim vice-president finance, clarified the importance of the context in which surplus is defined.

Himanaya Bajaj Contributor

Heer wrote that the operational

that we use ‘surplus’ as an account ing term to indicate an addition al amount of retained earnings recorded on a balance sheet. It is not an indicator of money available for spending,” she said. “An accounting surplus is only one of many indica tors that can be used to assess the financial position of a university.”

Students can nominate them selves for the AMS VP finance by-election until September 15. Interested students must submit a nomination form signed by themselves and 25 other stu dents. President Eshana Bhangu has been serving as interim VP finance since former VP Finance Rita Jin resigned from her role after class commitments were not approved by AMS Council. The campaign begins September 19 and voting will be open Septem ber 26–30.

Coverage for mental health care such as counseling and psychia try under the AMS/GSS Health and Dental Plan reverted back to $1,000 on September 1. The AMS increased the coverage by $500 for the 2021/22 policy year. In a statement, AMS President and in terim VP Finance Eshana Bhangu cited increased cost for students and limited use of the full $1,000 coverage in 2020/21 as reasons for the reversion.

Relations did not comment on spe cific initiatives within these areas.

Heer attributed this year and last year’s surpluses to a multitude of factors.“UBC’s financial position improved in 2020/21 and 2021/22 from the previous fiscal years as a result of strong student enrolment and sustained demand, as well as improvements in investments returns and the return to campus activities, particularly through housing, food services, parking, athletics, and recreation,” wrote Heer.UBC isn’t the only post-second ary institution to see an improved financial position.

“It is important to recognize

Nominations open for AMS VP finance by-election

UBC, AMS lay out harm reduction strategies

MIRIAM CELEBILER / THE UBYSSEY

drug testing and safety kits to stu dents this year, Turdy said.

CUPE 2278 launches union drive

The AMS and UBC Student Health Services say they are taking vari ous harm reduction measures to promote drug safety and access to testing supplies as students return to campus.BCfirst declared a public health emergency due to the toxic drug crisis in 2016. In 2022, the number of lives lost between January and June was the highest ever in the first six months in a calendar year.

fund surplus will be put to support students and UBC’s academic mission.“Inthe event of a significant operating surplus, we have typi cally reinvested the surplus in the core teaching, learning & research mission of the university and the student experience such as mental health, wellbeing, or financial aid.”

Abshire said UBC plans to provide fentanyl testing strips at the Wellness Centre, Nurse on Campus and Peer Health Educator outreach booths. She also said nasal naloxone will be available in residences lobbies and commonsblocks next to defibral lator

Santa Ono and Principal of UBC Okanagan and Deputy Vice-Chan cellor Lesley Cormack released a s tatement announcing the lowering of the flags and joining in mourning. The Queen visited the UBC Vancouver campus four times throughout her reign, most recently in 2002 commemorating her 50th year on the throne. U

EDITORS NATHAN BAWAAN + ANABELLA MCELROYNEWS SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 3 TOXIC DRUG CRISIS //

“The Sexual Assault Support Centre [SASC] is also a registered harm reduction site. They have fentanyl strips [and] they distrib ute naloxone kits ... they also have a needle disposal container at the SASC.”Abshire wrote that in addition to holding weekly peer support meet ings, the UBC Student Recovery Community also provides a harm reduction and recovery ally training to UBC faculty, staff and students.

While some of UBC’s reported surplus from the 2021/22 fiscal year will go to directly supporting students, a large majority has already been allocated to previous financial commitments, UBC said.

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

At UBC, efforts to educate stu dents and provide them with testing materials have historically been led by the AMS and other student groups — although UBC Student Health Services and Student Hous ing and Community Services (SHCS) have testing resources as well.

In a statement to The Ubyssey, Levonne Abshire, director of UBC health, equity and promotion, said the university’s priorities for the coming year could be categorized into four areas: education, supplies, support and services.

Flags at half mast on campus after death of Queen Elizabeth II

Danny Liu Contributor

Where will UBC’s $161 million surplus go?

AMS/GSS mental health coverage returns to $1,000

On education, Abshire pointed students to the Substance Use Health and Harm Reduction webpage, the Wellness Centre’s Instagram and a harm reduction Canvas course. She added that harm reduction work shops from UBC are available upon request.According to AMS VP Academic

Flags flew half mast on campus in mourning of Queen Elizabeth II. After her passing was announced on September 8, President

In its 2021/22 financial state ment, UBC reported a surplus of $161 million, marking the second year in a row the university has reported a surplus. In the 2020/21 fiscal year, UBC reported a $82 million surplus.

The RCMP charged a man in connection to the deaths of UBC students Evan Smith and Emily Selwood. Smith and Selwood were killed along Northwest Marine Drive in September 2021. The University RCMP released a statement saying it had charged Tim Carl Robert Goerner with two counts each of impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and impaired driv ing, totalling six charges overall. The charges come after a yearlong investigation into the crash.

Of this $161 million, Heer said $1 million was available for operating use, which UBC can freely allocate. The rest consists of non-operat ing funds which are “restrictive in nature and not available for general operating use.” UBC Media Rela tions later clarified non-operating fund spending covers capital- and research-related activities, as well as long-term strategic initiatives.

A Statistics Canada report from August noted that Canadian universities reported record high surpluses of $7.3 billion during the 2020/21 fiscal year, despite concerns over student enrolment and expenditures to implement COVID-19 measures.

Q&A with President Santa Ono

snapshot of time where — guided by the internal and external experts — they feel that because most people have been infected or been vacci nated, that the utility… masks are imperfect. They have to be perfectly fitting, a certain kind. There’s a lot of information on that and there’s contradictory publications out there. There’s no actual standard view by experts in the field.

I’m proud to say we have great ex perts here at UBC. We have a current

That information I get is then shared with all the deans, all the provosts, all the vice-presidents. We share them with the student societies and the unions. We get all that kind of feedback. I get a sense about what the level of comfort is of the institution. You’re never going to get 100 per cent of them saying we’re comfortable with this. But for exam ple, in this decision, the predominant response from both campuses for most faculties — with a couple of outliers — was that they’re comfort able without having a mask mandate. We made it really clear, they wanted us to be clear that [in] monitoring the public health situation, we might change that to a mask mandate, if the public health conditions from the [Provincial Health Official] PHO and our internal experts actually recommendImmunocompromisedthat. individu als are a small minority of the entire population. Most people are not im munocompromised. We care about the immunocompromised people. The way the university is working on that is at the unit level. The deans and the department heads are having conversations with those few people that are immunocompromised in their unit. If there’s a faculty member or student that is uncomfortable be ing on campus for whatever reason, they can make accommodations with their chair or their dean, and they can elevate it even further if they’re not happy with the accommodations being made.

A full version of this interview can be found on ubyssey.ca. Charlotte Al den, Nathan Bawaan, Paloma Green, Iman Janmohamed and Anabella McElroy contributed to this piece.

Santa Ono: I actually don’t think it’s necessary for students to know what a president does unless they’re inter ested, because the job of a president is to do everything they can to make the experience — whether you’re working, doing research or studying at the institution — the best possible. I hope students don’t worry too much about it because they should

In addition, I would say there’s part with just being the face [of the university]. To go to football games, to go to basketball games, to go to the Chan Centre or to be there being enthusiastic and articulating to the world why UBC is such a great insti tution that I’m proud to be part of.

For a first-year student, it’s usually not Monday to Friday, 9–5 when you need counselling. It’s often Sunday night, in your first term, when you’re not doing well. Getting counsellors into the residence halls gives the counsellor an option to get to know the students one-on-one on a regular basis. That kind of cohabitation allows the counsellor to know the students and hopefully make it more comfortable for students to actually reach out to the person that they know, as opposed to going out into some building in the center of cam pus that they’ve never been to before.

The wait times have gone down significantly, I wish they were zero, but I think it’d be hard to find any institution where the wait time really is zero. But we’ll continue to try to improve because that’s what we’d like to do.

be thinking about their classes and their extracurriculars and things like that.But, in terms of the different buckets of responsibilities, they vary. Part of it has to do with being the face of the university and the spokes person to almost any stakeholder — students, faculty and staff are one set of stakeholders. Another very important set of stakeholders are ac tually government officials because we rely upon considerable funding from the provincial government and the federal government, so that’s essential for the university to run. I interact with the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, ministers and heads of different units within the federal government. They also pro vide a similar amount of resources to theGovernmentinstitution. relations is one aspect, another area is philanthropy — foundations, donors, things like that. One thing that we’ve launched was the Blue and Gold Campaign. We set a target for $100 million, we reached that quickly. We went for $200 million, we passed that — we’re at about $207 million. The reason for that is that we’ve heard loud and clear that affordability is really, really important for all students. These are new scholarships for students.

I’m really proud of what we’ve done. When I first arrived, we invested more than $2 million in additional counsellors. We spent $4 million on that modular facility, which is a placeholder before Brock Commons Phase 2 is finished. It opened in March 2020 to expand space for mental health counsellors centrally on campus. That’s only one of the prongs of what we’ve done. We spent $500,000 in additional resources in 2021 to embed mental health coun sellors in 10 faculties.

Ubyssey editors collected student questions and sat down with Ono to reflect on his term and talk about everything from his perspective on UBC’s response to COVID-19 to his advice to his first-year self.

table. My job is to find them and make sure that they work together, that they focus on the priorities that we’ve agreed to with the Board of Governors and that we report back at Board of Governors meetings about what we’ve done. I’m held account able on an annual basis. They ask, ‘Has this guy actually delivered on the mandate letters and the priorities that we agreed to at the beginning of the year?’ My job is to create a team and to meet with them a couple times a week to make sure that we actually make progress towards those priorities.

students to live. The most important thing I think, in the affordability plan, which is my primary commitment and the Board’s primary commitment, is to significantly increase need-based aid. UBC has a good bit of aid, but a lot of it is merit aid — it’s used to recruit students with the highest credentials to the institution. Often there’s a pretty tough bar to keep the money, which I personally feel isn’t ideal because … if you just go a little bit below what the high bar is, you lose the money. That’s really not some thing that’s conducive to support and wellness for students. For that reason, one of the big pillars of the affordability plan is to vastly increase need-based aid, not just merit aid. If we increase need-based aid, then we hopefully can minimize the stress on individuals needing to work one or two jobs to have the resources to pay for school.

Read highlights from our conver sation with Ono below.

The Ubyssey: What do you think students should know about the job of the president? What do you do in a day?

I would have told myself to pace myself, to make sure I was focusing on my wellness, having fun, getting involved, making friends, because all of that will ultimately position me and the students, hopefully, for longterm success. I often say that life is a marathon, not a sprint. I really believe that because if you’re doing a marathon and you’re not training and you go out too fast, you’re gonna crash. You’ve got to ease into the race and go the pace — and that’s different for every person. The key is to finish the race, not to be the fastest in the first mile or kilometre. U

4 | NEWS | TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 EXIT INTERVIEW //

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

So they’re actually in each of the faculties, but we’ve also put them into residence halls. We started off with one residence hall, we’re now expanding to other residence halls.

In July, President Santa Ono an nounced he would be leaving UBC to be the president of the University of Michigan in October, prematurely ending his second term as UBC’s president.“Ididn’t want to just leave. I love this place dearly. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to build this place up,” he said of his departure in an interview with The Ubyssey in September. Ono has served as UBC’s president since 2016.

Is there anything you’ve done, in specific, in the last few years to try to address mounting affordability concerns for students?

Then there’s just running the university. I’m the interface between the Board of Governors and the Senate and the executive. I choose all the vice-presidents around the

These excerpts have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Students know you to be a big mental health advocate. What have you done, in particular, during your tenure to address this?

In terms of mask mandates through last year, when we actually started later than the other institutions, those were all much more conserva tive than all the other universities in the province. We did weigh [public health official] advice, but we also weighed our own internal advice.

In terms of affordability, you know, one of the most important things has to do with a waiting list for rooms in residence. UBC has the largest residential community of any uni versity in North America. In my six and a half years here, we’ve added thousands of beds. The most urgent priority for me in terms of managing affordability was to create places for

What kind of advice would you give to your first-year self if you could talk to him now?

“The key is to finish the race, not to be the fastest in the first mile or kilometre.”

How do you think UBC has done on returning to campus in the pandemic? Do you think that it’s done enough to support immuno compromised students while bal ancing provincial health advice?

That’s one variable, but in terms of the current state, our internal experts and the public health officer have said that it’s not necessary at this time to have a mask mandate like we did last year. Because of the numbers they have on individuals who have been either vaccinated or infected and because of the current variant, which is predominant, which they don’t think is a public health risk at the time. It could change if a new variant comes in.

The Ubyssey: First things first, an easy question: what is the VP students? What do you do?

that information. What hap pened, was he or she suspended? Expelled? Removed? They don’t get that level of detail because it’s an issue of privacy. They can’t know what happened to the other student, although the student al legedly, perpetrated an act against them individually. Here in Canada, in British Columbia, that’s a viola tion of the Privacy Act. That’s one of the things that I feel like doesn’t get the survivor closure. I will con tinue to advocate for this — I know as a university we have advocated for this — but it’s embedded in pro vincial guidance right now. Maybe someday in the future, we can get there and perhaps the next review will do that. But it’s not a university decision. This decision is part of BC laws. But more disclosure for survivors, to me, I think, helps them get closer to closure.

As VP students, Carry is responsible for “the student experience outside the classroom.”

sites to find out what to do, where to go, what classes to take, [how to access] academic advising, how to live off campus, what to eat, how to shop, et cetera, et cetera.

During the review in 2019, there were 150 submissions from the community. [Something] that was very important to me was our attention to survivor-centredness — to the degree that we looked at it and said, ‘Is this fair to the survi vor?’ We had a chance to re-examine everything, and now we had survivor testimonies, survivor experiences, about how we com municate, how they are informed about the process. I thought every addition that made the survivor feel more comfortable coming for ward, every addition that made the survivor feel more informed and brought the survivor closure was critically important. There’s always more than we can do.

Ainsley Carry: The VP Students Office is primarily responsible for the student experience outside the classroom. Faculty members and deans oversee what happens inside the classroom: the curriculum, courses you study, units earned. And outside the classroom, there’s housing, dining, recreation, student health, campus life, athletics — all of those things are overseen by the VP students. My work largely is the student experience in the broad sense.

That ’s why I’m so excited about the work of the Student Afford ability Task Force. There are 10 solid recommendations in there and this year, the AMS, GSS and SUO [Student’s Union Okanagan], we have committed to focusing and centring the Student Affordability Task Force report and making sure those 10 items get implemented over the years to come. Some of them will happen immediately. Some of them will take a little bit longer, but we have found that the issues around need-based aid have been critical, and there’s an aggressive fundraising campaign to address [a gap in] needbased aid. This isn’t a UBC-only challenge — we need to involve the province in also thinking about stu dent affordability issues, but my per sonal philosophy is that universities should do everything possible. One of our Board policies [Policy LR4] does address the university’s com mitment to domestic students. We need to examine that commitment to international students as well. U

VP Students Ainsley Carry heads the portfolio that impacts students most — but many know little about him and his office’s work. Who is Ainsley Carry, and how does he want to improve the student expe rience at UBC?

Every time we build a new build ing, and it’s a couple hundred beds, we have 6,000 students on a wait ing list. We build a building and the waiting list gets longer because the price of housing in the market around us is much more expensive, and therefore students are living further away and transportation to campus is harder. So, the SkyTrain [to UBC] is going to make a huge difference. We want to continue to advocate and partner with the provincial government in regard to building additional housing for stu dents and making transportation to campus easier and much more efficient. We will continue to build in an effort to meet the demand, but we know we can’t outbuild demand. We need a provincial partner involved in that

A full version of this interview can be found on ubyssey.ca. Charlotte Al den, Nathan Bawaan, Paloma Green, Iman Janmohamed and Anabella McElroy contributed to this piece.

This summer, The Ubyssey asked students what questions they had for the VP students. Ubyssey editors sat down with Carry in late August to discuss everything from his dreams for the UBC student experience, to tuition and housing.

These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.

Read highlights from our con versation with Carry below.

Q&A with VP Students Ainsley Carry

Students expressed concerns about issues of equity, diversity and inclusion. Feeling [when they’re] accessing health care, that [there] wasn’t a diverse body of physicians, doctors and nurses. Anything they were accessing, it was lacking diversity, and they felt like, ‘There’s no one here who understands my uniqueness.’ So whether it’s international diversity, domestic diversity, Black, Indigenous, people of colour.Those were the four major themes that I heard about in my first year. My major focus was how do we address those things? So student health was key. We tackled student health immediatelybrought in consultants and listened to students, we hired a chief student health officer who has now pulled that entire enterprise together.Right now, we’re working on career development and building out a new infrastructure for career development. We’re searching right now for an associate vice-pres ident for career development. We’ve elevated career services, and when that person comes on board, they’re going to build a whole new team and build out a whole new curriculum.Andnext, we’re looking at student communication. How do we communicate with students more successfully, get students to facts about things that they need to know about? Improving commu nication is critically important. And to me, equity, diversity and inclusion is always an important point. But in terms of things we’ve done, the Student Affordability Task Force, the Anti-Racism Task Force, expanding career services. We ended up spending a lot more time on COVID-19 than we had expected.

Carry, who’s been at UBC since 2019, emphasized four priorities he has for his tenure: student health; career development; communi cations; and equity, diversity and inclusion.“We’re going to continue to hammer at those things and try to move the needle. They are big, hairy, audacious objectives,” Carry said at the end of our interview. “But we’ve got to move forward on all of those things.”

As someone who worked on the Student Affordability Plan and is involved in student consultation on tuition — we’re not asking you why tuition is increased [that’s the Board of Governors’ deci sion] — what is your personal philosophy around post-second ary tuition?

What more could be done to help students find housing in Vancou ver both in the immediate and long term?

Immediately, the continuation of our plans to build housing. We have Brock Commons Phase 2 coming to the Board that will be more than 600 beds. Over the past 10 years, UBC has spent more than $630 million in expanding the housing inventory. We will continue to do that. One of our challenges [is that] it’s hard to build faster than need.

Another big topic was issues of communication. We say often, go to the website. Nobody searches web

I do believe that as a student who went to school on aid from the state and aid from the university, I do believe that universities have an obligation [that] once we admit students, our goal is to help them graduate. There are a variety of

One of the changes that I would hope for — but provincially there are some issues of privacy [law] — survivors don’t know the outcome of the respondent. They don’t see

My first year here, my real focus was doing student listening sessions. I joined UBC from the United States. So I’m here in Canada, and I want to make sure I understand what’s important here, rather than copy and paste what I knew from the US. We conducted 15 listening sessions with over 400 students, and I asked them five questions: what’s working, what’s not working, what must we change, what must we retain, and what question am I not asking you?

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

hardships that a student may face. But to the degree that we can help students graduate and make sure finances isn’t the main barrier should be something that the uni versity is committed to.

What are a few things you’ve done to advocate for students in these last three years?

Navigating student health at UBC was complicated, especially for students coming from foreign countries. And our student health facilities were located in multiple locations.Thesecond thing students brought up was career services. Navigating career services was very much focused on involved students, whereas the average non-involved student didn’t know they should have started that internship, that Work Learn, that study abroad. They didn’t know how to navigate that.

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY | NEWS | 5 YOUR QUESTIONS, ANSWERED //

You were on the Sexual Miscon duct Policy review committee in 2019. What’s an important change that emerged from that process? As the VP who oversees the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, are there any additional changes you would like to see?

Out of that came a couple of major themes.One: student health care.

The balmy heat sticking to my skinEating

Tova Gaster Culture Editor

To a new set of four walls that will listen to our stories and watch us happen. U

I took off the rose-coloured glasses because I didn’t need them anymore;Theywere foggy, anyway.

BANDS ON CAMPUS// //

It’s almost like it didn’t even happen Only segments of thoughts and nothing concrete — I can’t tell you a memory, I can only explain how it feels

as if in dance, strange and slightly unsettling, painted in bright co lours, petticoats flaring.

My love language is walking to the grocery store when I don’t need groceriesIthrew out all the lidless Tup perware because it’s useless

From left to right: Sean Ries (guitar), Malcolm McLaren (guitar), Nick Sciarretta (drums) and Hannah Kruse (bass). FALSETTI/THE UBYSSEY

In the sun-soaked plaza outside the Nest on September 7, local indie rock band Slightest Clue welcomed the masses back to classes. Slightest Clue was one of several UBC bands to play for First Week on the AMS’ Red Bull-branded stage.

POETRY //

It’s hazy like smoke stinging my eyes at the lake in August

MACKENZIE WALKER / THE UBYSSEY

The cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

They’re a mix of recently graduated and savour.sunlight.communityband,20-somethingssoon-to-graduateinanindierockplayingtotheircampusintheend-of-summerThat’safeelingtostopand

Until it settles into the seam less streams of nights that become tomorrows.We’renot going on a trip any moreIt’s a suitcase that will never fully get unpacked

Their sound is nothing ground breaking (yet), but the relatively new group — formed in 2022 — sounds polished. More than anything, they seem like they’re having fun.

TIM MATHESON / BARD ON THE BEACH

I only want to write about other peopleBut

In the end, despite these problems, Bard on the Beach’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a fantastic one. The beauty, power and sheer immersion of the performances and stagecraft for the main sto ryline more than made up for the comedic misses, and if you happen to enjoy that type of thing, then all theIt’sbetter.adark and beautiful, if occasionally interrupted, dream — perfect for a midsummer (or early autumn) night, and, if you have the time, I definitely recommend that you give it a chance.

are stained with red wine.Well, that’s not going to come out But who really cares; people stain things on purpose

For those who were never forced to read it in high school, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is about four lovers and a troupe of tradesman-turned-actors visiting a forest on the eve of a momen tous wedding. They unknowingly stumble into a feud between the Fairy Queen Titania and the Fairy King Oberon. Mistaken identity and chaos ensues.

maybe they would be cool walls and tell us to keep going, ‘Come on, you’re only 22.

In an interview for Broadway World, UBC acting alum Sarah Roa, who plays Puck, said that the pro duction “[leans] in hard to magic, joy, and love by investing deeply within the darkness and heavier plot points of the story.”

U

outside of the original text for comedic effect, and the change from iambic pentameter to a more modern rhythm felt slightly jarring, breaking immersion. The play within a play sequence at the end also felt a bit overlong, under mining the power of the resolution of the major dramatic storylines.

I’ve never really gotten Shakespeare. I remember when I read A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the first time in Grade 9. The jokes and the archaic language didn’t really make sense to me. My English teacher then said that, since they were plays, they were meant to be seen, not read. She then made some of us act out a scene in front of a class. The ‘performance,’ if you even want to call it that, was unen thusiastic and underprepared —we had to shove some desks together to make the ‘bed’ for Titania— but it did make me see a glimmer, a spark of how it was supposed to be. I got the play, if only for a single scene.That’s what drew me to Bard on the Beach’s production of A Mid summer Night’s Dream. I wanted to see it performed in its entirety, like it was meant to be.

In the morning when I’ll wake up and MyOopsnoticecurtains

A dark and beautiful Midsummer Night’s Dream

dark. A figure appeared in the window, resplendent in a white dress and crown: The Fairy Queen Titania singing a high clear ballad. With that, the show began.

At 7:30 p.m., the lights went

Oberon with charm and grace — in a top hat and trenchcoat worthy of a swindler king — while Kate Besworth lended a strong regality to Titania. Roa’s Puck leaned into the darkness of the play, playful, but also slightly sinister at times. She also sprinkled in phrases of Tagalog, a unique touch from her FilipinoCarlyheritage.Streetplayed Bottom with heart — enough to charm, even if the slapstick humour isn’t quite your style (it’s not mine either).

A nd I feel guilty for calling it useless.“It’s so hard to write about your self,” I agreed.

trail mix when I’m sweaty Touching the person in front of youSayingand ‘goodbye’ to the person beside you

Lester Lin Contributor

The sky is turning pink not from embarrassment but because it’s going to rain

I’ll wake up with myself for the rest of my life

I know you’re tired but this is a night you’ll want to talk about tomorrow.’

The servants of both fairy monarchs also lended to the dark atmosphere. These aren’t your typical whimsical fairies; Oberon’s servants slink around in hooded brown robes withed sticks for weapons and wooden horns, while Titania’s attendants always moved

EDITOR TOVA GASTERCULTURE SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 6 SHAKESPEARE //

Bard on the Beach’s A Mid summer Night’s Dream runs until September 24th. Tickets can be found at their on location box office at Vanier Park. U

It was fantastical. This was no low-budget proxy put on by unen thusiastic Grade 9’s.

And when I looked in the mirror I remembered, “Oh, it’s you.”

ISABELLA

Scanningand the crowd for a face or a laugh that I recognize better than my Toownsink into like that old brown couchAhouse is only four walls but If the walls could talk they would bark or scream and tell us to go to bedOr

And the next day

Until it’s my own vibrato

Whatever the symbolic signifi cance, it lent the play a delightful aesthetic: suspender belt pants and trench coats, cloches and paperboy hats. The classic costumes helped anchor the parts of the story set in the city, and contrasted with the fantastical strangeness of the woodland fairies in the play’s other half.The set resembled an old aban doned warehouse with railings and massive arched windows that gave a great view of English Bay as the story progressed.

That darkness and magic was evident in the set design. Branches and trees burst out from inside the walls of the warehouse as the play moved into its forest sections, and the lights shifted from bright stark yellow to deep purples and blues, giving everything a dark, creepy air.

Slightest Clue’s performance combined deep angsty vocals with uplifting guitar riffs. It was an appro praite soundtrack to the plaza out side the Nest teeming with frenetic first-years, upper-year burnouts and the all-around thrill that comes with a new school year.

Each of the four main lovers — Heidi Damayo as Hermia, Chris topher Allen as Demetrius, Emily Dallas as Helena and Olivia Hutt as Lysander (yes, they went with a female Lysander) — all played their parts with gusto. The four of them pulled off the play’s extensive physical comedy beautifully, an ele ment you miss when just reading it on the BillypageMarchenski played

The play hit a few small snags. Occasionally, Street used lines

Send me your favourite song and I’ll listen to it every day

So, I should give it a good shot. This place was once filled with everyone I love laughing and Now it’s like I’m showing up to a party

Bridget Meehan Senior Staff Writer

Moving out

In Bard on the Beach’s pro duction, it’s set in the 1920/30s.

Slightest Clue rings in the new school year

Space Centre. Just one bus away from campus, the space centre is just the place to watch the stars and impress the Rachel to your Ross. $18 entry.

Parents visiting town? Take them to Queen Elizabeth Theatre! Named for the Queen of England herself (RIP), this theatre is home to the Vancouver Opera and Bal let. With big acts coming through,

Their speciality is definitely the galbi, described on the menu as “wholesome grilled beef short

Cinematheque

At the centre of downtown’s Robson Street lies roughly 10 Korean BBQ establishments. With so many choices, it is almost im possible to pick one out. I am here today to speed-run the stressful moment of choosing the proper restaurant for you: Sura, located at 1518 Robson Street, is an excellent choice.Iam not Korean so I’m no expert, but my food recommenda tions have never failed to impress. Sura delivers excellent Korean dining experiences to anyone look ing for spectacular (if extravagant) food in a comfortable location.

A UBC student’s guide to art venues in Vancouver

Comedy After Dark

The MOA is a great place to visit on a rainy day when you don’t want to stray too far from campus. The MOA offers many exhibitions showcasing Indige nous artwork, European ceramics collected by Dr. Walter C. Koerner (yes, that Koerner) and sculptures by acclaimed Haida artist Bill Reid.

which is sexier than it sounds! Free admission for all ages.

only dumplings, salad, rice and four kinds of BBQ meat.

Using only a couple of random nouns from the audience, these wacky theatre kids create entirely improvised storylines for your enjoyment. $5 per show or $20 for the year for a membership of free shows.

MUSEUMS

For a $5 yearly membership, go to all screenings and events for free.

I have no idea what goes into their authentic Korean BBQ sauce but whatever it is, I need more of it. The sweet tart marinade balanc es out the richness of the fat.

In my experience, going to a Korean BBQ restaurant, while nourishing, can feel almost like a chore. You have to cook your own meat on the table grill while you

Contemporary art fans, the Belkin Art Gallery should be the #1 spot

UBC’s Botanical Garden is the oldest university botanic garden in Canada featuring a display of plants from around the world. If you’re looking for nice scenery while you eat lunch between classes or a place to watch the sunset before you head home, this is the place to go!

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY | CULTURE | 7 PLACES TO GO // BITE TO EAT //

to visit on your list. Its collection, which contains over 5,000 pieces, also holds more than 20,000 archival pieces from the post-war history of art in Vancouver. This fall, its reopening for its new ex hibition, Elemental Cinema which features filmworks from Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman.

Prices vary for each show, general ly between $5-$30.

Looking to learn more about the Pacific Northwest? The Vancou ver Maritime Museum just might be the place for you! Featuring the wheelhouse experience, the museum allows visitors to drive a simulation of the St. Roch boat through the Arctic.

FILM

Sura is definitely worth a try next time you are downtown, espe cially if you’re coming hungry and ready to shell out for some meat. U

meat melts and coats your palates with a glorious umami flavour.

Enjoy the movie theatre experi ence for cheap without trekking off campus! The UBC Film Society screens weekly double-features every Thursday in the Life Build ing.

Free admission for students (with UBC ID).

Free admission for students (with UBC ID).

Located downtown, the Cine matheque shows independent and foreign films — the perfect place to take that Italian studies student out for a first date. $10 for students. U

To ease the stress of the new school year, there is nothing better than a home-cooked meal — cooked for you by a profession al. Good thing Vancouver has no shortage of family-style Korean restaurants that make you feel right at home.

UB C Film Society

The Hatch gallery is on the second floor of the Nest.

The leaves are turning orange, there’s a chill in the air and class es are back in session.... so get your head out of the books while you still can and enjoy some of the arts and culture the city has to offer. The Ubyssey has some suggestions for some artistic des tinations, with special attention to free admission and student discounts!

Free admission for all ages.

The beef galbi at Sura comes highly recommended.

UBC Botanical Garden

The Rio Theatre on Commercial Drive shows everything from new releases to esoteric animated movies from the 80’s. It also presents live performance and burlesque.

$11 for students.

COMEDY AND PERFORMANCE

ribs marinated in authentic Korean barbecue sauce.” The price is eye-watering, but even if I were to report my credit card stolen, it would be worth the hassle to enjoy this plate of sizzling beef.

COURTESYUBYSSEYSURA

Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Richard Mao Contributor

Trust Me is The Ubyssey’s restauraunt review and food writing column. If you’re interested in writing about a favourite (or least favourite) restauraunt, or sharing a story about cooking and eating, email culture@ubyssey.ca!

tickets can be expensive, so keep an eye out early. Prices vary for each show.

The Hatch Art Gallery

$10 for students (with ID).

Vancouver Maritime Museum

A relaxing aura washes over you when you enter. The interior weaves a modern aesthetic with that of a Korean traditional household. Sura’s minimalist decor matches the deceptively simple menu placed on the table. It offers

THE

Trust me: Sura is an oasis for any Korean BBQ fan

H.R. Macmillan Space Centre

Belkin Art Gallery

It is delivered to you on a heat ed cast-iron plate with the bone still attached to some of the sexiest pieces of meat I have borne wit ness to. There is something magi cal about that first bite where the

Hana Aboelella Contributor

Museum of Anthropology (MOA)

There are three rice dishes to choose from on the menu to go with your choice of meat. I personally chose the kimchi fried rice because it had the least amount of vegeta bles and I am not here to pay for vegetables. I will be completely honest and state that it is absolutely not worth the price. However, if you did manage to stumble across $19 on your way to the restaurant, there would be no better accompaniment to the meat. I found that the slight spiciness from the fried rice was just enough to harmonize with the flavor of the galbi without overpowering it.

The Rio

Maybe it’s been one of those weeks when your school work is piling up and midterms are just around the corner, and you just want to go out with a friend and get a good laugh. Check out Com edy After Dark. This stand-up comedy gem offers shows every night from Wednesday to Sunday, starting at 7:30 p.m.

If you’re looking to take your date on a Friends-inspired outing, we recommend the H.R. MacMillan

UBC Improv

Located on the second floor of the Nest (right across from The Ubyssey’s office!), the AMS’s own student-curated gallery is a quiet place to get away from the rush of the first week of classes to contemplate some paintings. Its new exhibition is a colourful collection of abstract geometry, sweat profusely over all the ban chan. Either that or you bring your Korean friend and hope that you can act clueless enough for them to do the cooking for you. However, there is no need for that at Sura because the amazing waitstaff will magically appear next to your table with the food already cooked.

Makes my life easier! I will take the cheapest meat, please. Let’s be honest here, none of us here are looking to pay $15 for the “green salad” they have to offer.

“It’s often not really in [companies] interests to have people repair or re use, because they really want people to buy, buy, buy and growth is what gives investors confidence, and that pushes up share prices,” said Dauvergne.

The toxic e-waste which continues to pile up in the most economical ly-marginalized regions of the world is the cost.

REPAIRING A BROKEN POLITICAL SYSTEM

Words by Tova Gaster

Houston is among them. “I think

“E-waste is an escalating price for the world right now,” said Dauvergne. “Each year we’re producing over 15 million tons, everything from dishwash ers to TVs, microwave computers, cell phones, and only 10 to 20 per cent of that is safely recycled.”

With the rise of computer chip tech nology and the growing power of tech industry giants in the past decades, repair has become increasingly vital — and increasingly inaccessible.

The obstacles UBC students face when tech breaks

“A lot of places that repair laptops will just make you pay through the roof for it,” said second-year UBC arts student Adrian Hung. “Especially when you’re using a Mac, which was what I was working Accordingwith.”toright to repair advo cates and scholars, corporations such as Apple deliberately make it difficult: their repair manuals are copyrighted and not available to the public, and necessary replacement parts are branded and available only at Apple stores.Astechnology has become more complex and highly-specialized, most people lack the repair skills to repair their own devices — even computer engineers like Gopalakrishnan.

There’s no good way to dispose of e-waste, and landfills are overflowing.

The movement has popular sup port. According to a 2019 national online omnibus survey, 75 per cent of Canadians support regulations to man date that companies make information, parts and tools necessary for repair accessible at reasonable prices.

“I mean, access to technology is just across the board, not just for students,

Reliable access to a laptop or tablet has become essential to navigate student life.

Waste management corporations and the Canadian government ship the majority of that e-waste to regions in the Global South with cheaper labour and fewer human rights protections, such as Ghana, Pakistan and the Philip pines.“It’s wealthy consumers that are primarily responsible for producing [e-waste]. And it’s the poorest neigh bourhoods in the poorest communities .. that end up becoming locations for where a lot of the e-waste is being dumped,” said Dauvergne.

What if a broken laptop didn’t mean sky-high fees? Why is our technology so inaccessible to repair?

The then-second year started to panic. Without her laptop or access to the computers in IKB due to COVID-19, writing multiple term papers seemed impossible. Repairing her MacBook meant spending hundreds of dollars. Apple user or not, Houston’s story is not uncommon. Many UBC students have experienced the emotional and financial stress of broken tech or know someone who has.

It was finals week April 2021, deep into online school. Sage Houston raced to finish her final essays for her history and political science courses. Mid-essay, her MacBook unexpectedly shut down and refused to boot back-up again.

‘You can’t afford to go without’

TECH WIDENSUNAFFORDABILITYINEQUITYATUBC

In the context of the student afford ability crisis in Vancouver, purchasing and maintaining devices becomes an extra expense on top of rising tuition, food costs, rents and more.

hopefully sometime this academic year. Gopalakrishnan and Kandlikar did not respond to The Ubyssey’s request for a more precise time frame prior to print time.The E-Kitchen is part of the Campus as a Living Lab initiative, which uses UBC programs to model sustainability solutions that could scale up to the wider“Studentworld. trainees will help distribute refurbished equipment on a need basis to those on the UBC campus, to local schools, as well as among low-income groups across Vancouver and in the region,” said Kandlikar.

The problem of broken-down tech that the E-Kitchen hopes to address is an inconvenience that impacts some students more than others.

WHERE DOES THE BROKEN TECH GO?

Beyond small-scale community repair initiatives like the E-Kitchen, the right to repair movement has big-picture goals. Some advocates hope to include the right to repair into federal legislation.

Dr. Sathish Gopalakrishnan, an associate professor in the department of computer engineering, noticed that some students in his classes struggled to complete assignments because they couldn’t afford their own computers. It immediately struck him as an equity issue.“Iget some number of students ev ery year who don’t have access to their own laptop, or they don’t have access to an extra monitor,” Gopalakrishnan said.Gopalakrishnan said that the computer engineering department upgrades their devices every couple of years, leaving a surplus of broken, but not unfixable, computers that students could use. But even if the department provided students with old or dam aged technology, they likely wouldn’t have the knowledge or the parts to be able to fix it.

Gopalakrishnan and Dr. Milind Kand likar, a professor in the Institute for Re sources, Environment and Sustainabil ity, are creating an educational hub for electronics repair called the E-Kitchen. The E-Kitchen will functuion much like UBC’s Bike Kitchen, which repairs bikes at accessible costs. The E-Kitchen will fix phones, computers and other tech devices.According to a press release from spring 2022, the project “aims to make electronic repair and reuse a key part of UBC’s sustainability strategy.” The project received $50,000 in seed fund ing from the UBC Sustainability Hub in March.Gopalakrishnan and Kandlikar said they plan to bring in experts to train volunteers in how to repair electron ics. Then, they’ll open for business,

The project leads also hope that the E-Kitchen can unite people around the right to repair movement while bringing attention to the areas in which legislation could help consumers gain better access to parts and information.

“When I was in high school, it was very easy to buy a computer and assemble it yourself,” said Gopalakrish nan. “But as of right now, if you buy a branded machine, you just can’t do it.”

Student volunteers at the E-Kitchen could also use the E-Kitchen as a site to conduct research for course credit, which could help others reproduce the initiative elsewhere. For example, students could collect data on the economics of repair.

More and more everyday products include computer chips — not only laptops and iPhones, but also ‘smart’ watches, refrigerators and washing machines.Smarter devices come at a cost. Since computer chips are more complicated and harder to manufac ture, repair increasingly becomes the purview of elite industry specialists. It also means that the market is at the mercy of the computer chip supply chain shortage, driving supply down and prices up.

E-waste recycling is a difficult and dangerous job, which often falls on women and children, according to the World Health Organization. The toxic heavy metals and flame retardants which batteries release when broken down make e-waste a major environ mental pollutant and a health hazard.

“My laptop was like five years old, I’d had it since high school and it was broken down,” said Hung. “The bottom was literally falling off of it, and I was duct taping it together. I just didn’t have the money to replace it properly at the time.”Hung’s speakers and the webcam kept shutting down, making it difficult to participate in Zoom classes. One of Hung’s professors also required auto mated invigilation software Proctorio, which UBC now restricts. Proctorio flags a malfunctioning webcam during an exam as evidence of cheating.

Dauvergne and Gopalakrishnan both emphasized that corporations as well as consumers are to blame for our unsustainable consumption patterns.

Most conversations about inequity in student access to technology focus on whether students have access to the internet at all — what many call “the digital divide.” Although there are still concerning gaps, a 2018 study found that basic access to a connected device has become more commonplace and equitable in recent years.

A RECIPE FOR COMMUNITY REPAIR

FIGHTING FOR THE ‘RIGHT TO REPAIR’

UBC global environmental politics professor Dr. Peter Dauvergne agreed. “Companies are using planned oblescence to foster overconsump tion.” Planned obsolescence refers to the idea that corporations design products to break prematurely, to force consumers to upgrade to newer models.Thiswaste is bad for students and for the Gopalakrishnanenvironment.said that he finds that students want to learn how to fix computers, they just need the training and the “Oneparts.ofthe challenges that I’ve experienced with repairing electron ics these days, especially computing equipment, is that it requires some spe cialized knowledge,” said Gopalakrish nan. “This is not what we actually teach our students, in the sense that we teach people in engineering programs how to build new stuff, but not necessarily how to take apart something that’s old and fix it.”

probably one of the most financially crippling things there are,” said Hung. “We’ve created a society in which you can’t get by without a mobile phone.”

Advocates at UBC and worldwide are demanding the right to repair: a growing movement which argues that people should have the access to the knowledge and parts necessary to fix their own devices.

“The big thing is that you can’t really afford to go without it,” said Hung.

However, the same study found that the biggest source of digital inequal ity is now between students who can afford to repair their devices and those that can’t. Researchers call this divide the “technology maintenance con struct.”Low-income students often work with less reliable technology, which is an obstacle to academic success.

it would be wonderful to see massive policy changes like that,” she said.

In 2019, lobbying from Apple killed a right to repair bill in Ontario, which would have required tech companies to provide replacement parts and repair manuals to the public at fair prices.

Still, the right to repair has made some political strides. Bill C-272, which allows independent repair contractors to bypass ‘digital locks’ — which previ ously made some repairs prosecutable as violations of copyright law — passed with overwhelming support in January 2021. Meanwhile, in the US, the Depart ment of Justice recently announced a potential antitrust lawsuit against Apple for monopolistic business practices.

“When you look outwards and it’s very overwhelming and nothing seems like it’s changing, looking back into the community level always feels very comforting,” said Houston. U

Adrian Hung is a contributor to The Ubyssey. He was not involved in the writing or editing of this piece.

design by Anya Anber Ameen

However, she’s concerned that mul tinational corporations have too much control over the federal government.

much eco-anxiety among the young people right now. Real initiatives like the E-Kitchen that achieve concrete outcomes with very clear imagination on scalability [...] are just very empow ering.”Back in 2021, Houston was ultimate ly able to get an academic concession for her broken laptop and finish her finals. Her computer was still on war ranty, and she got the corrupted logic boardAlthoughreplaced.she feels abandoned by systems which prioritize corporate profit over sustainability or consumer rights, her community gives her hope that repair is still possible. She cited the UBC E-Kitchen proposal as an example.Elsewhere in Vancouver, the Van couver Black Library, which opened on September 4, also hopes to include a lending library of secondhand repaired devices to help people out if they need to write an email, do some research or make a call. Similarly, Vancouver nonprofit Metro Van Repair Cafés holds monthly repair events where experienced volunteers help newcomers repair their tech, as well as bikes, jewelry and small appliances.

Although there’s no quick fix, repair advocates at UBC believe that it helps to start“Thislocal.ishow you get legislators on board, right? You show that it works and it’s financially reasonable, and you get the energy of the young people,” said Dauvergne. “There’s so

“In the context of how the US and Canadian governments are handling these multinational corporations, there’s been a lot of tip-toeing,” said Houston.Although the right to repair is popular, meaningful legislation against anti-repair business practices would require governments to take on big business more decisively than both Houston and Dauvergne think is likely.

THE UBYSSEY

Why is this scary?: It’s a horrifying and relatable situation… and The Devil is the scariest guy of all time! If he showed up in your tutorial you’d be a goner! We’re quaking and crossing ourselves just thinking about it. With his polo shirt and boat shoes, he just had to do it to ‘em. And by ‘it,’ we mean play Devil’s Advocate and by ‘em,’ we mean YOU and your tutorial.

Because some of you 50-credit course load engineering students apparently don’t know the meaning of fear, we have also included handy artist statements to explain why each of these spine-chilling short stories should haunt your dreams.

The waitlist became a hit list.

spot or with the bystander’s body found in the UBC tunnels for the crime of accidentally witnessing an intimate moment that was meant to stay between a K-pop influencer and their 20,000 fans. Also, Buchanan D is just scary. But what’s even scarier is that people actually use those washrooms.

It was so scary, I punched the person beside me, then myself.

What do I do if I want to get a lit tle creeped out, but I can barely lift a Stephen King book, let alone read it?

EDITOR IMAN JANMOHAMEDFROM THE BLOG SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 10 Find these resources & more at: Talent MATCH is brought to you by: Looking for a co-op or work placement? The MATCH Sector includes: Museums, Arts, Tourism, Culture, and Hospitality. The Non-Profit Sector includes: Environment, Health, Legal Services, Housing, Poverty Reduction, Food Security, and more! ACE-WIL’s Talent MATCH program offers free resources and career coaching to support you! How to Find Your Own Work Placement Free and Low Cost Training Resources Be an Effective Mentee acewilbc.ca/talentmatch-for-students SPOOKY // The Dingbat: UBC two-sentence horror (and why they’re scary)

Opinion

POLITICAL SEANCE

“Why not just go to a horror movie?” Newsflash, asshole: I got disenrolled from the film studies program — not because I don’t have a Tarantin-toe foot fetish, but because the last time I had to watch a scary movie for class (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York), I jumped so hard at the first jump scare (Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin appearing on screen) that I punched the person next to me and then myself. #Fail.

If you’re looking to microdose on getting scared and on reading, we’ve written some two-sentence horror stories. But beware: these stories may make you so scared, you’ll go crying to your RA and everyone will make fun of you because you’re 21 and afraid of a guy in a bow-tie (San ta Ono isn’t real, he can’t hurt you).

In the digital age, reading has become so hard to do (not for us though, y’all stay safe). You’re telling us that we have to pick up a book, open it, flip the pages and read?

Tova Gaster and Iman Janmohamed Culture Editor and + Editor

“To play Devil’s Advocate...” said the frat bro beside me.

B(TS)UCHANAN

Why is this scary?: We’ve all been there — either as the Jimin imper sonator, or as the guy on the toilet. We’ve spared you the gory details in this two-sentence tale, but we all know how it ends: Either with the TikToker expiring from shock on the

YOU COULD MAKE A KILLING...

Why is this scary?: You might be

I was all alone in the bathroom of Buchanan D at 7 a.m. filming a BTS TikTok.Then I heard the toilet flush.

I was 45 minutes into my POLI tuto rial, eager to leave.

next. Why do you think the BIE acceptance rate is only 4 per cent? (Hint: THEY KILL THE OTHER 96!) U

ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT

Disclaimer: The Ubyssey is not responsible if you shit yourself because these stories are too scary. If this is a common occurrence, you might want to find a good dry cleaner. I hope you’re good, bro.

What the fuck?

The summer section of ECON 101 was full, but I needed it for my pres tigious Bachelors of International Economics (BIE) degree.

Blog

The Dingbat is The Ubyssey’s humour section. You can send pitch es or completed pieces to blog@ ubyssey.ca

EDITOR IMAN JANMOHAMEDOPINION SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 11 ADVICE //

Hi I’mIman,trying to get on birth control but I’m not really sure of my options. I’m also scared of IUDs. What do I do?

ADVERTISEMENT

THE ABCS OF BCS

There are a ton of different birth control methods — like the hormonal pill, patch and IUD; or non-hormonal methods like

MAHIN E ALAM / THE UBYSSEY a professional.

internal and external condoms.

But, for today, I’ve got you covered with a short explainer of some birth control options. It’s important to consult a health care professional to find what works best for you and it’s invaluable to enter conversations about your reproductive health as educated and prepared as possible.

Contraceptives can be used for many different reasons — from preventing pregnancy to treating conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis and hormonal

The hormonal pill and patch require a prescription from a doctor or nurse practitioner and can be bought at a pharmacy. The closest pharmacy to campus is Shoppers Drug Mart, but there are tons all over Vancouver. If you

IUDs are small t-shaped de vices that are inserted into your uterus (and can be removed) by a health care professional. There are two types of IUDs — copper IUDs like Paragard IUDs and progestin IUDs like Mirena IUDs.

You should always consult a health care professional and do what feels right.

Student Health Servies can pre scribeTheeither.progestin

lining around your uterus. Hor monal IUDs are over 99 per cent effective according to Planned Parenthood.CopperIUDs last for up to 10 years, are made out of copper (a spermicide) and are 99 per cent effective, according to the Mayo Clinic. The IUD kills the sperm before it can reach an egg, effectively stopping a potential pregnancy. Copper IUDs can also be used as emergency contracep tion when inserted within seven da ys of unprotected sex, if Plan B, or oral emergency contraception, isn’t an option for you.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Ask Iman: What’s the deal with birth control?

ARE CONTRACEPTIVES FOR YOU?

At the end of the day, I’m just an advice columnist, not a health care professional, so going to see your doctor, nurse practitioner or even visiting Student Health Services or a clinic is the best way to go. You’ll learn about the different types of birth control that are best for your symptoms andDecidingpricing. what type of contra ceptive — whether that’s the pill, patch, IUD or a barrier method — is personal choice. Regardless of what your friends, siblings, parents, influencers or resident advice columnist recommends, you should always consult a doc tor and do what feels right. And if a specific birth control method ends up not being right for you, you can always try something new, stop birth control or re-evaluate yourYou’reoptions.doing great. Keep it up! U

I’ve heard a bunch of horror stories on TikTok about peo ple literally ripping out their IUD, but that is super rare and shouldn’t be a barrier to you ex ploring this option.

IUDs are probably the contra ception method that you hear the mos t about — be it good or bad.

Iman Janmohamed Opinion + Blog Editor

However,acne.certain lifestyle factors like smoking can impact what methods of birth control are best for you. Non-hormonal birth control options like the copper IUD, progestin contracep tives like progestin IUDs and the minipill or barrier contraceptives like condoms are safer for people who smoke cigarettes. If you have a personal or family history of blood clotting disorders, hormon al birth control might not be for you, but it’s important to consult

Figuring out how to get on birth control can be an absolute night mare. It’s hard to find informa tion and finding a health care professional can often be difficult.

Some people can try several different brands of birth control pills because individual bodies re spond differently to medication. Some symptoms of hormonal birth control pills can include nausea, decreased libido, head aches and more. If you are facing these side effects, it’s important to talk to your health care profes sional and discuss other options that might work better for you. You shouldn’t be taking medica tion that makes you feel awful.

IUD is a hormonal IUD which can last for three to six years and works by locally releasing hormones. Progestin works to thicken your cervical mucus while thinning the

want to maximize your AMS/GSS Health & Dental plan, Pacific Blue Cross can save you up to 50 per cent of your out-of-pocket costs if you get your prescriptions filled at a Rexall Pharmacy. The closest Rexall Pharmacy is at 6580 Fraser Street, 38 minutes away on the 49 bus.Toget a prescription or learn more, you can book an in-person or tele-health appointment with Student Health Services or at your local health clinic.

Want to ask a stranger for advice? Well, you’re in luck! Send all your burning questions to advice@ ubyssey.ca or submit anonymously at ubyssey.ca/pages/advice!

Michael DeMarco Contributor

SOUND AND BUBBLES

A STICKY SITUATION

especially how we can use materials and mechanics to solve clinical challenges,” he said.

research.“We’re working with patients directly that can see hope at the end of the tunnel,” said Madhini. “That’s something we’re really proud of as a team, that we’re making this possible for them.” U

Though he has a background in chemical and mechanical engi neering from McGill, Ma’s current research interest lies in health care applications.“FormyPhD studies, I’m more interested in the mechanics side,

ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

Dr. Zhenwei Ma, a UBC Killam Postdoctoral Fellow and research fel low at Harvard Universty, collaborat ed with scholars worldwide to study how adhesive bandages, also known as bioadhesives, can be controlled using sound waves.

The double network hydrogel —

THE BIG QUESTION

The MEDIC foundation supports research in Parkinson’s disease, anxiety and depression.

With each new project un dertaken, it is the human impact that continues to drive innovation within the MEDIC Foundation. For these student innovators, accolades pale in comparison to seeing the impact of their

“One key motivation of my work is to get rid of the chemical reactions and how we can use purely physical methods to achieve equivalent or even better controllability of the formed adhesion on biological tis sues,” Ma said.

Ultrasound is used for imaging in hospitals and clinics, but a lesserknown application is in adhesion. When ultrasonic waves are immersed in liquid they induce cav itation, which is the rapid formation and collapse of vapour bubbles with in a liquid. These bubbles play an essential role in bioadhesion because they can be selectively placed and used to actively push the adhesive into the outermost layer of the skin.

Ma explained many drugs are delivered through the veins, meaning they can end up almost anywhere in the body and carry a risk for systemic toxicity. The local nature of ultrasound-mediated bio adhesion can minimize the potential risk of toxicity across the body, while maximizing the effectiveness of theFordrug.Ma, the potential for ultrasound-mediated bioadhesion extends to new research opportu nities, namely in treating cancer. Ultrasound-mediated bioadhesives can be used in cancer treatment to locally deliver drugs to inoperable tumors.“I’m personally very excited about [ultrasound-mediated bioad hesion] for its application for cancer therapy,” Ma said. As a researcher, Ma is excited to have his work touch the lives of those in health care.

JASMINE CADELIÑA MANANGO / THE UBYSSEY

“I’mtreatment.reallyexcited to actually integrate our adhesive technolo gies with other minimally invasive surgical procedures for a wide range of applications and in the clinics in general,” Ma said.

“To better design a treatment strategy for the patients, that’s what I’m hoping for.” U

developed by Ma and his colleagues at McGill University and the Uni versity of Zurich — is special due to stretchy and stiff networks that make it more resilient towards physical damage.Although the double network hydrogel is flexible and resilient and body’s surfaces are often quite tough, the adhesive itself can be a limita tion. Some adhesives in circulation today use chemical reactions which can be toxic to the human body.

According to Ma, the resilience of the ultrasound-mediated bioadhe sive systems will “solve some of the fundamental problems of existing

“I think what we’re doing is very interdisciplinary and transdisci plinary.”

Stick it to ‘em: UBC researchers use sound to develop stickier bandages

Ma has demonstrated adhesion to the skin, aorta and the inner skin of the cheeks and lips, opening the door for broader clinical applica tions like surgery, drug delivery and cancer

With applications in drug de livery, cancer treatment and daily clinical use, improving bioadhesives will transform how the healthcare industry treats patients and even our day-to-day lives.

This year, the foundation is adding two projects on cancer and diabetes. The expansion is also geographical, as the endgoal for the diabetes project is to develop a portable insulin pump for patients in Sri Lanka. For its cancer research, the team aims to identify biological patterns be tween patients with varying forms of cancer, alongside the AIM Lab at UBC.Recruitment for this year’s projects began on September 5 and will be open until September 16.

The project earned the People’s Choice award at the Canadian Undergraduate Biomedical Engi neering Conference in 2021 and is set for in-person trials starting thisThefall.team has also been work ing on a wristband that leverages deep pressure stimulation to reduce anxiety and stress. To date, the project has earned a variety of accolades and is supported by Open-Source Medical Supplies BC.

but they have their share of challeng es. Most current bioadhesives are not ideal for wet skin and can easily become compromised to lose their stickiness.Published this summer in Science, Ma’s work on ultrasound-mediated bioadhesion aims to create tougher bioadhesives. The tougher the bio adhesive, the more resistant it is to cracks forming between the skin and the adhesive itself. This reduces the bioadhesive’s ability to stick and can be an issue for common adhesives like

ToBand-Aids.betterunderstand bioadhe sives, Ma said we should “think of adhesives not as a single material, but like a material system.” There are three main components to an adhe sive system: the biological tissue, the adhesive and in this specific case, a double network hydrogel.

Ultrasound-mediated bioadhesives have applications in clinical care, cancer treatment and beyond.

Ana Bandari Contributor

UBC-based MEDIC foundation supports research into chronic conditions

HEALTH CARE //

Ripping off the bandaid just got a whole lot harder thanks to a re searcher supported by UBC.

The roles available span research, engineering and administration. Students from all faculties are encouraged to apply. Menon and Vigneswaran emphasized a focus on finding students who align with MEDIC’s mission.

ration with a variety of BC-based organizations.Alongsidethe Pacific Parkin son’s Research Institute and the McKeown Lab at UBC, the MEDIC team is conducting research into a non-invasive brain stimula tion technique to improve motor performance for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

A UBC-based nonprofit is advanc ing research into chronic illnesses to provide hope to those that need it most.Co-founders and fourth-year biomedical engineering students Anjali Menon and Madhini Vi gneswaran launched the MEDIC Foundation in April 2020.

Bioadhesives are an essential in emergency rooms and first aid kits

Both founders have witnessed the impact of chronic conditions within their families. Menon has seen shortcomings in the Canadian health care system after serving as a caretaker for both her grand mother and mother. Vigneswaran’s dedication toward chronic con ditions was ignited after losing numerous relatives to cancer in Sri Lanka.“Our end goal is to make lives easier for patients with chronic conditions. [We want to] bring more smiles to patients’ faces,” saidSinceMenon.their inception, the MED IC team has worked diligently to achieve that mission, in collabo

EDITOR SOPHIA RUSSOSCIENCE SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 12 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT //

“A lot of materials that are not adhesive become more adhesive, just by simply pushing them into the [target], like some biological tissues,” Ma said. “We unlock the potential of materials to be adhesives by using ultrasound.”Inaddition to creating cavitation bubbles, ultrasound also generates heat. This property is used in the removal process of bioadhesives. Gelatin, a thermo-sensitive polymer present in the hydrogel, is a liquid above a certain temperature and a gel Mabelow.explained changing tempera ture allows for temporary adhesion onto the hydrogel. When it is time for removal, ultrasound is applied again, the temperature is increased, the gelatin melts and the bioadhe sive may be taken off.

adhesives used in the operating rooms because they usually cannot form very strong adhesion with wet biological tissues.”

Hosting a mix of student-led and laboratory-based projects, the foundation provides infrastructure to empower student-led research. The organization has made strides in the research areas of Parkinson’s disease, anxiety and depression.

EDITOR MIRIAM CELEBILERSPORTS+REC SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY 13 WOMEN’S SOCCER //

The T-Birds will be hosting the Calgary Dinos on Thursday, September 15 at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby Centre. U

U Sports and Canada West Women’s Soccer Player of the Week Tolnai continued the momentum on Saturday’s 2–1 victory over reigning U Sports champs the MacEwan Griffins.

UBC women’s rugby down the UVic Vikes in home opener

Diana Hong Contributor

the gap to a five-point deficit before the half. However, the T-Birds regrouped and came back stronger in the second half.

UBC women’s rugby took down the University of Victoria Vikes 45–24 to earn a home opening victory on SeptemberFourth-year10. T-Bird Mackenzie Carson set the tone with a try in the fourth minute. 2021 Canada West player of the year Savannah Bauder made the conversion to give the ‘Birds an early 7–0 lead. Bauder led the Canada West conference in points, tries and converts last season.

Thunderbirds Piper Logan and Florence Symonds played with Rugby Canada’s Senior Women’s Sevens team for the Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa this month. Murten said he looks forward to having them back next week and to continue building the team for the rest of the season.

Olivia Sarabura runs for a try.

DIANA HONG / THE UBYSSEY

Tolnai scored her first goal of the night in the 10th minute off of a Nisa Reehal assist. Griffins Alyx Henderson soon responded with a goal of her own from a through pass by Maya Morrell.

Despite a strong push from the Pandas in the second half,

RECENT RESULTS TEAM HOME SCORE AWAY Friday, September 9 HockeyWomen’s UBC 5–1 Delta Academy Women’s Soccer UBC 2–0Alberta Football Saskatchewan29–10 UBC Men’s Hockey UBC 3–0SFU Men’s Soccer UBC 3–1 Trinity Western Saturday, September 10 Women’s Rugby UBC 45–24Victoria HockeyWomen’s UBC 7–2 Rink Academy Women’s Soccer UBC 2–1 MacEwan Men’s Hockey UBC 3–0 Trinity Western Men’s Soccer UBC 3–0 Fraser Valley

Miriam Celebiler Sports + Rec Editor

“[The Vikes] probably went in at halftime feeling pretty good. We didn’t. We went out to come out in that second half for 10 minutes and just get the momentum back to us again. And we did that.”

DIANA HONG / THE UBYSSEY

UBC women’s soccer topped the Alberta Pandas 2–0 and the MacEwan Griffins 2–1 this weekend at the Thunderbird Stadium. Third-year midfielder Katalin Tolnai scored all four of UBC’sTolnaigoals.continued her exceptional performance from last weekend’s home opener hosting the University of Victoria Vikes. The young midfielder not only got her first goal as a T-Bird but ended the night with a hattrick to down the Vikes 4–0.

Despite a strong 19–0 start for the T-Birds, the Vikes fought back with two consecutive tries, closing

The Thunderbirds continue their campaign in Winnipeg on September 17 when they face the University of Manitoba Bisons. U

Tolnai powers ‘Birds through two more home victories

the T-Birds were hungry for another goal. Tolnai found Ava Alexander’s pass in the 88th minute and buried the ball into the left corner to push UBC past the Pandas 2–0.

UBC head coach Dean Murten said he was satisfied with the remainder of the second half.

kick from the spot was saved by Griffins keeper Breanna Truscott to keep the match at a one goal difference. Despite

Friday night against the Pandas, the T-Birds saw shots from Tolnai, Sophia Ferreira and Danielle Steer in the first half. Heading into stoppage time, UBC was awarded a free kick from just outside of the box. Tolnai lined up to take the kick and sent the ball flying to the top left corner of the net. Tolnai’s goal gave UBC an important 1–0 lead at halftime.

Katalin Tolnai dribbles past Pandas Nicole McKay.

WOMEN’S RUGBY //

After earning a penalty try in the 49th minute, second-year centre Olivia Sarabura pushed for another try, giving UBC a 33–14 lead in the 56th minute.

Sarah MacPherson added her first ever try as a T-Bird, stretching UBC’s lead to 45–19 with Bauder’s convert. The game finished with Vikes Shaye Ogurek’s try in the 74th minute and UBC took down their island rival Vikes 45–24.

several chances from both sides, the score remained 2–1 in favour of UBC at the time of the final whistle.

The opening half excitement continued when Reehal and Tolnai came together again in the 42nd minute to give the Thunderbirds the game-winning goal. Tolnai’s magnificent goal off the crossbar was her seventh goal of the season, placing her above Danielle Steer as the top goal scorer of the young Canada West season.UBC was awarded a penalty kick in the 49th minute. Steer’s

Welcome home UBC! As the Board of Directors president of YOUR student newspaper, I am excited to welcome you to our campus and introduce you to The Ubyssey. The Ubyssey is a nonprofit society partially funded by the student body, and our editors and con tributors work hard to keep U BC students informed on what’s going on around campus.Aswe are funded through a mix of student fees and advertisements, I feel it is important that the UBC student body under stands exactly what is going on within our organization. I ran for The Ubyssey ’s Board of Directors on a promise of better transparency and I am proud to announce that we are once again publish ing a financial update. The B oard of Directors deals with all major business decisions and strategy. As president of this Board, I deal with a variety of business aspects such as

The Ubyssey demands transparency. Here’s our commitment to our own

Jalen Bachra Board of Directors President president@ubyssey.ca

ca . My door is always open in Room 2209 in the AMS Nest if you have any ques tions, concerns or just want to chat. I look forward to meeting all of you!

The Ubyssey projects that Ubyssey fees, advertising revenues and CSJ grants will keep The Ubyssey on solid financial ground through FY 2022/23. The Ubyssey projects revenues to come in at $485,000 (includes fees, government grants and advertising

Douglas Baird MB CD UPS Business Manager business@ubyssey.ca

As news editor, I spent two years writing about the need for trans parency from the university and the AMS. It’s student money funding the institution, so students should know how it’s spent. To me, it felt like a key part of The Ubyssey’s purpose.ButThe Ubyssey isn’t good at transparency. We don’t properly advertise our finances, our annual general meeting or the student positions on our Board of Directors, and our key editorial guidelines and policies aren’t easily accessible.

Charlotte Alden Coordinating Editor

up for us If you’re interested in getting further information on The Ubyssey’s budget, email business@ubyssey.ca I see this as just the start. The Ubyssey shied away from student engagement during the beginning of the pandemic — in part as a result of us trying to do our jobs as best as we could while living in a deeply

14 | THE UBYSSEY | TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR //

The Ubyssey ’s operat ing budget for FY 2021/22 e nding August 31, 2022 was $484,000 in total income with expenditures coming in at $475,000. The operating sur plus was due to more funding re ceived from Canada Sum mer Jobs (CSJ) than project ed. This additional money has b een allocated for equipment upgrades (computers and cameraOverall,equipment).

for 75 per cent of the pro jected budget. Fifteen per c ent of the budget will go to equipment purchases and office expenses, while the remaining ten per cent will go to conferences, travel and professional development.

Letter from the Business Office: 2021/22 financial update

I would like to thank all members for their support throughout this past year. Editors and staff have moved back into the office spaces and seamlessly transitioned to in-person workplace practices. This year’s editorial team, led by Charlotte Alden, is excited and eager to meet all challenges and profession ally report on issues of inter est to UBC students, faculty, a lumni and the surrounding community.Duringthe past year we hired another software developer, in addition to the two already established po sitions, to help transition and m odernize our award-winning website. The work accom plished will foster a more us er-friendly experience for our readership and help facilitate the web design/editor inter face. Extensive work was also comp leted concerning the online advertising component of theMovingweb. forward into

IMAN JANMOHAMED / THE UBYSSEY

To the members of the Ubyssey Publications Society (UPS),

revenue) and expenses of $491,000. The deficit of $6,000 is due to equipment purchases and will be covered by last year’s Currently,surplus.wagesaccount

Letter from The Ubyssey ’s Board of PresidentDirectors

Since I was elected coordinating editor in May, I’ve been working on updating some of our internal policies and creating some clearer public-facing documents on how we run and why we make the decisions we do. Those pages are now live on our website at ubyssey.ca

If you have feedback for us on anything at all, email me at coordi nating@ubyssey.ca U

A financial update is now live on our website, written by our Business Manager Douglas Baird. You can also find it right below this letter. The online version includes some graphics that show where our money is spent and how we’re doing financially. It also outlines our fi nancial projections for the next few years — spoiler: things are looking

the new fiscal year — FY 2022/23 — The Ubyssey will continue to publish both in print and online. Print editions will be published twice month ly and our online publication w ill continue to be updated daily. Advertising revenues have recovered to about 75 per cent of normal with an expectation of full recovery by fiscal year 2023/24.

We are students just like you.

As a non-profit entity, we are obliged to provide transpar ency to our membership on bud getary matters and will make available financial infor mation to members who seek a m ore detailed breakdown of expenses. I can be reached as noted on this page and would be more than happy to discuss the business side of The Ubyssey, on request, by any member of the UPS.

troubling time. But we want to be better.We want to remind you all that we are students who run your stu dent newspaper, not just a group of faceless people who live-tweet all the AMS Council meetings.

marketing strategies, fiveto ten-year strategic plans and our new scholarship program for incoming first years.As an elected body voted in by students, our Board directly represents and looks after the issues you care about while over seeing the business side of The Ubyssey. Our Board consists of nine members, including five directly elected by the UBC student body. Elections for our Board of Directors happen each year in March during AMS elections. If you’re interested in running for the Board, please reach out to me at president@ubyssey.

On the ‘How we run’ page, there’s a brief overview of how The Ubyssey is managed and makes decisions. There’s public links to five key policies that inform how we respond to different requests. Our Anonymity Policy is also clearly outlined.Anew addition is our Unpub

lishing Policy. As newspapers across the county revamp their unpub lishing rules to reflect the impact of a digital footprint, we wanted to do that too. In this policy, we’ve defined a commitment to the public record and transparency with our audience, but with flexibility built in to reflect the need for compas sion when it comes to unpublishing requests.Wealso recognize that our own perceptions of risk and harm don’t always match those of our sources. Our Unpublishing Policy forces us to interrogate our own biases and perspectives when we make these decisions.We’vealso released a source guide that’s deeply inspired by Toronto Metropolitan University’s student newspaper, The Eyeopener’s, source guide. Here, we outline what it means to be a Ubyssey source and answer some commonly-asked questions.Wealso know The Ubyssey needs to be more transparent with its finances. We demand the universi ty and AMS tell us where student money is going and when, but we get hundreds of thousands of dollars from students every year and aren’t as transparent about how that mon ey is used as we should be.

COURTESY KRAZYDAD.COM

You forvolunteercanus! DOWNACROSS SOLUTIONS — JULY 19 SudokuCrossword#1 Sudoku #2 Visit ubyssey.ca/pages/volunteer to start contributing today. LOUDERSUDOKU THAN WORDS Imagine Day 2022 ISABELLA FALSETTI / THE UBYSSEY

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022 TUESDAY | GAMES | 15 1 Doofus 6 Peter and the Wolf bird 11 Short change? 14 Clip wool 15 Lower a sail 16 Mens ___ (criminal 17intent)Conical dwelling 18 Beastly 19 QB’s mistake 20 Atty. to be exams 22 Impudent girl 24 Loss of memory 28 Top hat 1 Atl. crosser 2 Friend of Fidel 3 In the know 4 Fannie ___ 5 Threat finale 6 Capital of Yemen 7 Amo, amas, ___ 8 Back talk 9 10StrikeInany case 11 Brittle 12 Stressed 13 Lustful deity 21 Squeal 29 Yeast 30 Oodles 32 Treater’s words 33 Chalice 35 Nicholas II, for one 39 Perfect place 40 Son of, in Arabic names 41 Trevi Fountain site 42 Flat sound 43 Run in the wash 45 Pizazz 46 Basketry material 48 Hercules’ creator 50 Simple shed 23 Against the current 24 Emollient yielding plants 25 Fixes 26 Titles 27 Vesper 28 Business card no. 30 Cavalry sword 31 Come on 34 Make angry 36 Conductor Georg 37 ___ and the Night Visitors 38 Kidney related 43 Short life? 44 Speaker’s spot 53 Saloon 54 Adonaïs, Thanatopsis, or In 494770696867666560585755MemoriamYou___right!DebussysubjectCavalryweaponHeathomeParisianpalPerrierrivalCapriandManNever,toNietzscheChipdipBrahmin,e.g.FashionsResemblingacertain lawn 50ornament?Geneva’s lake 51 Fragrant resin 52 Eagle’s home 53 Actress Davis 55 Blue dye source 56 Some TVs 59 Actress Gardner 61 This ___ test... 62 Capp and Capone 63 Encountered 64 British verb ending CROSSWORD PUZZLE COURTESY BESTCROSSWORDS.COM

ADVERTISEMENT

Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.