November 15, 2012

SHAKING OUR FISTS AT BC FERRIES SINCE 1918

UBC’S OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER | NOVEMBER 15, 2012 | VOLUME XCIV| ISSUE XIXII

WARM WINTER DRINKS TO WET YOUR WHISTLE Toddies, ciders and nogs — just a few piping hot booze delivery methods to get you through exams P8

U

THE UBYSSEY PERFECT

SEASON

DS N A H DRY

E R HE

Sam Dabrusin is giving away hankies to help keep trees out of the trash P3

UBC men’s soccer completes an undefeated season by capturing gold at nationals P7

TAs VOTE

ON DEAL Teaching assistants will vote Thursday on whether to accept a new collective bargain with UBC P3

WHEN IRISH

FEET ARE DANCING

Theatre at UBC presents Dancing at Lughnasa, a character-driven drama set in 1930s Ireland P8

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS + PEOPLE

What’s on Tue 1215

OUR CAMPUS

THIS WEEK, MAY WE SUGGEST...

MOVIES >>

2

ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE UBC

THURSDAY

Lecture and film screening with Robin Hessman: 12:30 p.m. @ Liu Institute

Are you curious about societal, cultural, economic and political changes that have occurred in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union? Robin Hessman has spent her time in Russia throughout the 1990s developing the Russian version of Sesame Street. Her talk will explore the Russians’ reactions to the changing events over the past two decades. In addition, there will be a screening of her documentary, My Perestroika. Free.

Tue 1216

Tue 1217

MUSIC >>

FRIDAY

EARTH >>

SATURDAY

The Return of the Jazz Café: 6 p.m. @ Party Room, Student Union Building Don’t have any plans for Friday night? The UBC Jazz Café has you covered! Good music, hot drinks and baked goods. Come hang out with your friends and meet new ones. $3.

Tue 1218

PHOTO COUTESY OF HEATHER HEINE

Heather Heine knows how to multitask; her many projects range from entrepreneurial start-ups to biotech inventions.

Biotech, brews and bear spray

NEWS >>

SUNDAY

The Ubyssey Production Day: 1 p.m. @ Basement Room 24, Student Union Building Ever wonder how your twice-weekly student newspaper, The Ubyssey, is produced? Stop by on Wednesday nights to be a part of the process ... and get free dinner.

Tue 1219

It’s the end of the universe and I feel fine: 8 p.m. @ H.R. MacMillan Space Centre Worried about the end of the universe as we know it? UBC astrophysics grad student Raminder Samra will guide you on a tour that shows it might not be as soon as people think.

Admission by donation.

WRITING >>

MONDAY

Writing Help Drop-In: 3-7 p.m. @ Chapman Learning Commons Are you getting stuck on how to write your paper? Need help in developing an outline or formatting your paper for citations?

Drop by the Chapman Learning Commons for some hands-on advice. Free.

Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event and your best pitch to printeditor@ubyssey.ca.

Video content Make sure to check out the Weekly Show, airing now at ubyssey.ca/videos/.

U THE UBYSSEY

EDITORIAL

Senior Lifestyle Writer STAFF Zafira Rajan Bryce Warnes, Josh Curran, zrajan@ubyssey.ca

Coordinating Editor Jonny Wakefield coordinating@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Natalya Kautz features@ubyssey.ca Managing Editor, Print Jeff Aschkinasi Video Editor printeditor@ubyssey.ca David Marino video@ubyssey.ca Managing Editor, Web Andrew Bates Copy Editor webeditor@ubyssey.ca Karina Palmitesta News Editors Will McDonald + Laura Rodgers news@ubyssey.ca

copy@ubyssey.ca

Senior News Writer Ming Wong mwong@ubyssey.ca

Graphics Assistant Indiana Joel ijoel@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Anna Zoria culture@ubyssey.ca

Layout Artist Collyn Chan cchan@ubyssey.ca

Senior Culture Writer Rhys Edwards redwards@ubyssey.ca

Videographer Soo Min Park spark@ubyssey.ca

Sports + Rec Editor CJ Pentland sports@ubyssey.ca

Webmaster Riley Tomasek webmaster@ubyssey.ca

Art Director Kai Jacobson art@ubyssey.ca

NOVEMBER 15, 2012 | VOLUME XCIV| ISSUE XIXII

Peter Wojnar, Anthony Poon, Veronika Bondarenko, Yara Van Kessel, Lu Zhang, Ginny Monaco, Arno Rosenfeld, Matt Meuse, Hogan Wong, Rory Gattens, Brandon Chow, Joseph Ssettuba. Tyler McRobbie, Sarah Bigam

BUSINESS

CONTACT

Business Manager Fernie Pereira fpereira@ubyssey.ca

Editorial Office: SUB 24 604.822.2301

Web Ad Sales Ben Chen bchen@ubyssey.ca Accounts Tom Tang ttang@ubyssey.ca

Business Office: SUB 23 ADVERTISING 604.822.1654 INQUIRIES 604.822.6681 Student Union Building 6138 SUB Boulevard Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 Online: ubyssey.ca Twitter: @ubyssey

LEGAL The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia.

It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate.

Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff.

They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and art-

work contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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

Letters to the editor must be under 300 words. Please include your phone number, student number and signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions. ID will be checked when submissions are dropped off at the editorial office of The Ubyssey; otherwise verification will be done by phone. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit sub-

missions for length and clarity. All letters must be received by 12 noon the day before intended publication. Letters received after this point will be published in the following issue unless there is an urgent time restriction or other matter deemed relevant by the Ubyssey staff.

It is agreed by all persons placing display or classified advertising that if the Ubyssey Publications Society fails to publish an advertisement or if an error in the ad occurs the liability of the UPS will not be greater than the price paid for the ad. The UPS shall not be responsible for slight changes or typographical errors that do not lessen the value or the impact of the ad.

Laura Rodgers News Editor

Before Heather Heine ran a biotech start-up, before she became a doctor, before she started a business while she was still in med school, she spent a night in a bunker at an Alberta military base.

The army had given her a leaky gas mask. But she didn’t know it yet.

She was barely out of firstyear university and partway through basic training to join the reserves. CS gas — Heine called it “10 times stronger than bear spray” — was pumped into a dark room, where Heine stood with a team of recruits.

“Our eyes and lungs and mucus membranes were on fire,” said Heine. “One guy was screaming, ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die.’ A few people threw up.”

Heine doesn’t recall the exercise fondly, but she’s glad she went through it. “The military’s really excellent at teaching you to handle stress conditions,” she said.

Heine only stayed in the reserves for a year, but she’s found herself in plenty of stressful situations since then.”It’s not exactly the same, but every time at UBC during exams, through really difficult clinical rotations,... probably it’s helped.”

She parlayed that first university year, plus a couple years at BCIT after that, into a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology at UBC. With her sights set on clinical research, she enrolled in UBC’s combined MD-Ph.D. program.

But when the first year of med school wasn’t enough of a challenge, she started a project outside of class that eventually became the Boulevard Coffee Roasting Co. “A series of things just lined up that made it obvious to me it’d be the right thing to pursue.

A friend of mine in my medical class, her mother owned a Blenz franchise. So I just started to ask questions.”

She hatched a plan for an organic, fair-trade coffee shop along with a fellow student, and cold-called the company that rented space along University Boulevard to pitch it.

“We spent the next two years setting it up. I fundraised several hundred thousand dollars, mostly through my medical student friends, who lent me the money,” Heine said. She started working on the idea in 2003, but kept it secret for two years because she wasn’t sure how her Ph.D. supervisor or her med school profs would respond.

“They wouldn’t really understand why I was doing it,” she said.

Outside of class, she met with banks and contractors to get the café up and running. She opened the Boulevard in 2005, and the café has been successful ever since.

Heine has since sold her stake in the business, but she credits it with awakening her entrepreneurial streak. “It was new and kind of uncertain and scary,” she said. “[But] I really want to learn to do this.”

After finishing the MD-Ph.D. program in 2011, she kept that streak going by founding two biotech start-up companies.

The first stemmed from her Ph.D. research into stem cells.

“In the whole stem-cell research community, there’s been a real struggle to get anything to work.

And I banged my head on that for about two years,” Heine said. “So I realized, maybe the tools we’re using aren’t quite sufficient for what we’re trying to do.”

She developed a new way for researchers to test how stem cells develop: an “implanted Petri dish,” roughly the size of a dime, that can be placed inside a lab animal. It attracted attention from stem-cell researchers in both Canada and the U.S., and Heine moved to California to continue work on the project and patent her invention.

“It’s very new at this point,” she said. “We’re not going to see what happens with that for some time.”

While she waited to find out what would happen with the stem-cell project, she also started a personal-health company that launched just weeks ago.

Called “Talking 20,” the venture allows customers to measure levels of vitamins and hormones in their blood cheaply and easily. “Right now, you have to go in to the doctor when you have symptoms [and] get a blood test,... then go back to the doctor,” she said. Instead, her company lets customers put a drop of blood onto a filter card, mail it to a lab and check test results on the Internet.

“I want to see what I can do to make personal diagnostics and health a little bit more accessible and convenient,” she said. “You can just start to monitor for stuff on your own time, as often as you want.

“Everyone is doing these different diets, different exercise routines, they’re taking different supplements, [but] there’s a real black box around what’s actually making a difference.

There isn’t really any hard data so that a person can figure out for themselves what’s going on inside of them.”

So far, the company has had thousands of orders from around the world. Heine hopes that it, and similar ventures, can empower people to be more active in how they maintain their health.

When asked how she keeps finding the energy to take on multiple demanding projects, Heine almost seemed surprised by the question. “I’ve noticed if I have enthusiasm about something, I have seemingly limitless energy for it,” she said.

“That’s kind of the slogan for me: we need to get as much done, as quickly as we can.” U

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

EDITORS WILL MCDONALD + LAURA RODGERS

TRANSIT >>

3

LABOUR >>

TAs to vote on tentative deal today

FLICKR PHOTO/JR DODGE

The vote will be held Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. in Woodward lecture hall 2.

KAI JACOBSON PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

UBC-O students were previously unable to opt into the U-Pass program.

U-Passes to be offered to UBC-O students Visiting students must pay AMS fees to opt into the program Ming Wong Senior News Writer

UBC Okanagan students currently studying at UBC Vancouver may soon be eligible for a U-Pass.

AMS Council has passed a motion to give UBC-O students the option to opt in to the U-Pass program, which they were denied before.

“It’s been a bit more difficult and arduous than we had originally anticipated,” said AMS President Matt Parson on trying to find a way that UBC-O students could join the U-Pass program. “But thankfully the passing of our motion last Wednesday brings the end of this issue and we’ll be able to offer UBC-O students [at] UBC Vancouver a U-Pass.”

Parson said that some technicalities still need to be sorted out

NEWS BRIEF UBC prof takes racial discrimination case to B.C. Supreme Court The case of a UBC education professor who claims she was the victim of racial discrimination is now in the hands of the highest court in the province.

The B.C. Supreme Court heard arguments earlier this week over whether to throw out a human rights complaint Dr. Jennifer Chan filed against UBC. The hearings are another step in Chan’s complaint, which she filed in May of 2010 after being denied a prestigious research position. Chan argues she was not appointed to the David Lam chair in multicultural education in part because she is Chinese-Canadian. Chan, who lost the chair to a white candidate, claims she is more experienced in the field.

Last January, the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal allowed Chan’s case to proceed to a full hearing, despite numerous attempts by UBC to have the case dismissed. In March, UBC filed a petition to have the B.C. Supreme Court review the tribunal’s decision. UBC argues that a tribunal hearing would be redundant, because a university investigation of Chan’s complaint determined there was no wrongdoing on the part of appointment committee.

Chan claims that UBC’s process was unfair because the university hires the investigator and sets the terms. Chan named several senior administrators in her initial complaint.

The court is expected to reach a decision before the end of the year. U

with Enrolment Services. He hopes UBC-O students will be able to pick up U-Passes as early as December.

However, AMS VP External Kyle Warwick said TransLink is still working on the issue of whether UBC-O students can be included in the terms of the current U-Pass contract. He said that this could delay the process until at least January.

UBC-O students aren’t fee-paying AMS members, which complicates the the issue of getting a U-Pass. “TransLink is trying to limit the number of exceptions [to the U-Pass contract],… so they are fairly strict on the condition that for you to be eligible for a U-Pass, you must be a member of the AMS,” said Parson.

To qualify as AMS members, UBC-O students will have to pay the $21.50 AMS membership fee.

Parson said the university would like them to pay the $197 Athletics and Recreation fee as well. He said said these visiting students will still have to pay fees to their Okanagan student society.

At the last AMS Council meeting, VP External Kyle Warwick said this arrangement will be a temporary solution until April 2013, when the new U-Pass contract is put in place.

“We’re optimistic that with a new contract being written with TransLink, we can write in some language where there would be a recognition of traveling students from sister institutions and allowing them to be considered under the umbrella of AMS membership,” said Parson.

The U-Pass would give UBC-O students a $30 all-you-can-ride student pass, as opposed to a regu-

lar-price $81 one-zone bus pass.

Up until now, the AMS has been refunding UBC-O students the difference between their full-price passes and the U-Pass price, but Warwick said in a Council meeting that it’s not the best use of AMS money.

Daniel Vineberg, a UBC-O student who was in Vancouver last year for a cross-campus exchange, said he went through a tedious process to get his transit passes reimbursed.

“Last year, I was promised by the former AMS President that if I kept all my transit receipts, I would be fully refunded. It took about a dozen visits with the AMS and the better part of the year to get this promise realized.

“I’m happy to know people won’t have to go through that mess again.” U

SUSTAINABILITY >>

Student wants to replace paper towels with hankies

Laura Rodgers News Editor

Sam Dabrusin wants to save the environment — one hanky at a time.

He’s giving out free handkerchiefs at UBC, hoping that anyone who takes one will use the hanky, rather than a paper towel, to dry their hands after they use the washroom.

It all started when Dabrusin, now a third-year political science student at UBC, went on a highschool exchange to Japan. “For the first month or so, my hands were always wet; I was wiping them on my pants,” he said. “They don’t have paper towels or hand dryers in over 90 per cent of the bathrooms there.

“It’s the cultural norm to carry around a handkerchief.... Then when I got back to North America, I started using [handkerchiefs] again without thinking.”

While canvassing for Greenpeace after his first year of university, Dabrusin tried to think up a project he could start to help the environment, and his mind went to his hanky habit.

“I made the connection in my head that [paper towels] were dead trees that we just throw in the garbage.... I was just using less.”

Dabrusin approached the sustainability committee at the AMS

Sam Dabrusin (left) distributes free hankies in the SUB.

and he learned how much paper towel waste comes from just the SUB. “I found out the SUB goes through about 40 bags of trash a day, just out of the bathrooms,” he said. “At least 90 per cent of that, or more, is going to be paper towels, right?”

He made a pitch to the AMS about a plan to offer free hankies outside bathrooms, but they weren’t able to offer him grant money for the project.

“We didn’t see the connection between buying a handkerchief and then getting people to consistently use a handkerchief instead of paper towel,” said Tristan Miller, AMS VP Finance.

Undeterred, Dabrusin wound up getting $1,100 for his project from another group, the Student Environment Centre. He used it to buy hundreds of handkerchiefs from Hankettes, a Vancouver Island company.

KAI JACOBSON PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

He’s been handing them out at a booth in the SUB since Tuesday, and suggesting that anybody who takes one also donate to the Ancient Forest Alliance. “The response has been pretty good,” he said. “It’s a behaviour change thing, so it’s a big project. We’re aiming to do this next semester as well.”

Dabrusin hopes that the project won’t just save trees, water and energy; he also wants it to get people thinking about how much they consume.

“This is a really good way to get into a discussion about the disposable culture that we have right now.... On campus, we’ll have a meal and we’ll throw out some plastic, we’ll throw out some styrofoam, all without thinking about it.

“We’ll do that on a daily basis, and that’s just for meals.... There’s so much other stuff, too, that’s very disposable. I think this would be a good way to start that conversation.” U

Will McDonald News Editor

The TA union has a tentative deal with UBC, but it isn’t what they were hoping for.

The agreement includes wage increases and hiring preferences for fifth-year doctoral students.

But union members were also hoping for tuition waivers, a childcare fund and hiring preferences for third-year master’s students.

“It wasn’t the deal that we wanted, of course. That’s the result of the bargaining. Over two years of negotiations, you’re bound to make concessions on both sides,” said Michael Stewart, spokesperson for the TA union, CUPE 2278.

UBC spokesperson Lucie McNeill said that both sides had to make concessions at the bargaining table.

“Bargaining is a tough business and generally neither side is 100 per cent happy because it involves compromise,” she said “That’s the nature of negotiations.”

The deal includes no retroactive wage increases for 2010 and 2011. TAs will get a retroactive two per cent wage increase for 2012-2013 and an additional two per cent wage increase in the final year of the deal.

The TAs asked for, but didn’t get, a tuition waiver and cost of living protection. Instead, the union will put part of their first year’s wage increases into a financial hardship fund.

Stewart said he didn’t know how much money would be in the fund or how it would be divided among members. He said a committee would be formed to figure out what to do with the fund.

The deal also includes protection from academic harm for TAs, meaning that union members can’t face academic penalties for job-related grievances.

The TA union’s last collective agreement expired in 2010.

Stewart said the union’s week and a half of job action helped them get the deal.

“We feel we secured the best deal that was possible,” said Stewart.

McNeill said the deal had to take into account the other union agreements that have been made on campus.

“Hopefully ... there are some elements that were really important for both sides that were agreed upon and that’s enough to have people say, okay, this is what’s feasible right now. This is what’s realistic,” said McNeill.

TAs will vote on the tentative agreement on Nov. 15. The union executive is recommending members accept the deal. U

4 | national |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

REGINA >>

Offensive language at campus pub leads to sensitivity training Student said homophobic team names at pub trivia made him uncomfortable

Kristen McEwen The Carillon (University of Regina)

REGINA (CUP) — Bars aren’t exactly places for polite conversation; campus bars are no exception. Jokes made within the walls of the Owl, a student pub at the University of Regina, can be edgy, but sometimes edgy crosses the line into very offensive territory.

During the Owl’s trivia night, held on Oct. 11, taglines for teams included derogatory words such as “faggot” and other homophobic statements.

According to Nathaniel Cole, a regular patron at the bar, seeing and hearing the rest of the crowd laugh and the hosts of the game encourage the word to be used made him feel uncomfortable.

“I think probably being one of the only out gay men in the room, hear[ing] the word ‘faggot,’ it was really isolating and it was kind of scary,” Cole said.

“It kind of hit home for me, because those are the kind of words I’ve heard my entire life, you know? I decided that I was going to do something about it.”

That evening, Cole took to Twitter to express his disapproval. Taking his frustrations further, Cole decided to write a letter to campus newspaper the Carillon . The letter was published on Oct. 18.

The letter spoke about his experience that evening and how unwelcome he felt in the pub. In the letter, he acknowledged that he knew the management at the Owl did not condone these types of actions, but he still wanted an apology from the hosts.

After the letter was published, Cole said he received some backlash. <em>

<em>

ARTHUR WARD PHOTO/THE CARILLON

The University of Regina Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity provided positive space training to the pub’s staff.

“I felt kind of shitty for a couple days,” he said. “It took a lot for me to, you know, publish in the newspaper — outing myself to the entire campus or the entire city or [whoever else] reads it.

“It’s a difficult part of the process, and there are people who hurt my feelings or made me feel unsafe. It just took me a lot to do that because lots of times I just don’t say anything and go on with it.”

On Oct. 11, the Owl’s manager, Alexis Losie, was out of the country and noticed Cole’s comments on Twitter. She direct messaged him and promised that an apology would be made.

The same day that Cole’s letter appeared in the paper, Losie

made an official apology with the staff, face-to-face with Cole.

“It was what I wanted to do. It’s hard to admit you were wrong, it’s hard to say, ‘I’m sorry and I made a mistake.’ So for all of us to have to do [that] to Nathaniel and actually see his face, you know, that’s a hard one when you can see emotion on someone’s face versus reading it on a page,” said Losie.

Since that trivia night, the opportunity for teams to use taglines has been removed.

Losie said that she was aware of some of the more offensive taglines that were used in the past, but hosts had said it was hard to censor what would be offensive to some and not to others.

Losie also added that another regular patron approached her to express their discomfort with jokes about child molestation, since they had experienced it when they were younger.

At times, expressed Losie, she had also taken offence to explicit taglines, including one that implied violence against women and necrophilia.

“I just wanted to address our customers. You don’t know how it affects the person sitting at a table beside you or even someone at your table when you laugh about that stuff,” Losie said.

On Nov. 6, the Owl staff received positive space training from the UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.

The positive space sessions explain the “benefits of making a space more inclusive [for] LGBQT identities,” said UR Pride’s executive director Leah Keiser.

The sessions also explain how to use respectful language and stand up against others using offensive language.

“We really wanted to bring that exact training to the Owl. That would be a first good step to combating the incident that had occurred and incidents that happened before,” said Keiser.

Losie said that the worst outcome of the training would be staff members only adopting this new attitude temporarily.

“But the best case scenario is that they extend [the training] outside of here and also take it to their friends when they’re at a house party, [so when] these words come up, they make a point of saying it’s not acceptable,” she said.

While Cole said he has put the incident behind him, he is not optimistic that anything is about to change.

“I don’t think there’s going to be any drastic change, but at least there’s people talking about it,” he said.

“But at the same time, the only people talking about it are the ones who care about these issues in the first place.… The people who need to change their mindset haven’t heard about it or don’t care.

“But I hope for those that have, that it’s kind of made them think that it’s 2012. Just because gay people can get married doesn’t mean there’s equality across the board and there’s not oppression for those people on a daily basis.”

ELECTIONS >>

Vancouver to get new federal riding for 2015 Omar Shariff The Voice (Langara College)

VANCOUVER (CUP) — Another member of parliament will be joining the House of Commons to represent Vancouver’s growing population.

The proposed Vancouver-Granville riding, which will be cut out of the five pre-existing federal voting districts, will likely be in place for the 2015 federal election.

The Federal Electoral Boundaries Commission for B.C., the group that maps out all of the province’s new ridings, has just wrapped up a series of public hearings to gather public input about the proposed electoral district.

John Hall, chairperson of the commission, said that during the public hearing process, Vancouverites’ main concerns were whether or not the designation between the east and west sides of the city would remain the same.

“In the areas of Vancouver-Kingsway and Vancouver-East, [the residents] were anxious around Main and Ontario streets,” said Hall.

“They wanted to see it preserved as the boundary for the western part of the city.”

Hall also said that federal electoral districts are re-examined

every 10 years to make sure that each riding represents roughly the same number of constituents, with the goal being 101,879 constituents per riding.

“The changes are driven by the census numbers,” said Hall.

“And with the [Vancouver-Granville] riding in place, all the ridings in Vancouver are very close to the electoral quota.”

Stephen Phillips, head of the political science department at Langara, thinks the new proposed ridings in B.C. will have an overall positive effect.

“We are under-represented in the House of Commons,” said Phillips.

“This current redistribution is designed to establish the principle of representation by population.”

“We’re going to be gaining an additional six seats in the House of Commons, going from 36 to 42,” said Phillips.

“So that’ll redress the population imbalance somewhat.”

But even with these new ridings, Phillips believes that B.C.’s population will only continue to grow.

“As soon as [the new riding] is in place, it’ll begin to get out [of ] joint yet again,” said Phillips.

“But at least the gap will be narrow for a certain period of time.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

EDITOR C.J. PENTLAND

5

JEFF ASCHKINASI

C.J. PENTLAND

ANDREW BATES

ANNA ZORIA

FORMER ATHLETE TURNED OLD MAN.

WATCHES A LOT OF SOCCER AND, WELL, MORE SOCCER.

FAVOURITE SPORT: KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS.

Women’s field hockey and men’s soccer both won nationals, but soccer has to get it. Including preseason: 24 games, zero losses.

It’s hard to argue with men’s soccer for finishing undefeated while playing twice as many games as the last team to do the same thing.

UBC Plant Sitters. Their last couple of games have kept me at the edge of my seat.

UBC’s soccer teams are in a class of their own. Look at their stats against the other CIS teams. They are depressingly good.

The women’s rugby team wins my vote. They may not win all their games, but why not root for the underdog?

MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM OF THE TERM?

Does this need to be stated?

Well, if you needed a hint, the team starts with “F” and ends with “ootball.”

I really wanted the football team to bounce back after last year. And despite the bad four-game start, they made all the right changes! But they changed too late.

Team Zooey Deschanel’s face. It is tragically losing the battle to Z. Deschanel’s bangs. My Sunday prayers are with you.

Obviously we expected better from football. We thought that returning Billy Greene would be enough, but the lack of depth on defence was painfully clear from day one.

Between the look of disappointment in Billy Greene’s eyes and the lack of Ram Jam being played at Thunderbird Stadium, the T-Bird footballers ain’t been ballin’.

WHO WILL BE THE BEST TEAM DURING THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR?

Honestly, every single team has a shot at making nationals.

But the favourites to win gold have to be women’s volleyball and men’s basketball.

I think it’ll be a basketball year.

The men’s and women’s teams have looked flawless, and they have what it takes to make a deep playoff run.

The UBC figure skating team: 50 Blades of Toope.

Namaste.

I imagine each team will probably be best at their respective sports.

Swimming, hands down. I mean Brent Hayden used to be on that team, right? He won something at the Olympics once.

THE UBC WOMEN’S FIELD HOCKEY TEAM WILL LOSE A GAME WHEN...

The team decides to play with tree branches.

Caught in a time loop, the team is forced to play against a version of itself until one team wins.

My old therapist, Steve, will stop wearing his stupid fisherman hats. Which will be never.

God, Steve.

The entire team decides, in the interest of levelling the playing field, to eat nothing but Domino’s pizza for an entire season.

The varsity athletics department decides to treat their athletes to the Burger Bar, all day, erry day.

GAGAN DOSANJH AND JANINE FRAZAO BOTH WON CANADA WEST MVPS IN SOCCER. CAN ANYONE STAND UP TO THEIR GREATNESS?

I guess maybe Zeus. But I’m not sure how great his ball handling would be.

Frazao can bend a bowling ball with her right foot. Frazao can bring down a construction crane in the penalty area and not concede a foul.

Yes. Also, no. I feel like those names could be very chic if they lost two to three vowels.

Yeah, his name was Terry Fox, you jerk.

Did anyone else just read that and think Gangnam Style?

UBC IS TO WINNING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AS YOU ARE TO...

Forgetting to screw the gas cap on after fuelling the car.

Catching busses at the very last minute.

Inducing the fear of God in small children, grannies, therapists and boyfriends.

Forgetting which night the recycling goes out on.

Guilting people into doing things for me, then forgetting what I need from them.

If it existed, it would be wiffle ball baseball. Someone needs to make that happen.

The “biking through pedestrians” slalom on the tiny construction paths.

Float in the pool face up; float in the pool face down; sauna; cigarette; cucumber water.

Godspeed.

Dodging longboarders.

Seriously, none of them know how to stop.

Running up and down the stairs at Wreck Beach. No better way to fight off those caf curly fries.

Brandon Deschamps feat. the offensive line. They came out of nowhere to help UBC lead the conference in rushing.

Billy Greene, for the away game against Manitoba. With postseason hopes still alive, he got knocked out of the game, came back in, threw a 40-yard pass and collapsed.

When I hear the word “beastin’,” I instantly picture the weird tantric sex I once had with an ex-sailor in the Caribbean under a grand piano. Sorry, what was the question? I’m having a moment.

Beastin’? What is this “beastin’” you speak of?

He’s not a player, but the announcer at the volleyball games is beastin’. It’s genetics, ladies and gentlemen!

BEST TEAM OF THE SEMESTER?

WHAT IS THE BEST RECREATION ACTIVITY ON CAMPUS? WHAT PLAYER WINS THE FIRST-EVER UBC AWARD FOR BEASTIN’?

JONNY WAKEFIELD JUST FINISHED READING FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.

WHEN HE GOES TO A GAME, HE’LL TWEET ABOUT IT. #GOBIRDSGO

6 | sports + rec |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

BASKETBALL >>

T-Birds stay undefeated HARDWOOD HIGHLIGHTS

by Henry Lebard

It was as though already having one last-minute victory wasn’t enough to instill a sense of urgency for the UBC women’s basketball team in their home opener. The Thunderbirds made it interesting yet again on Saturday, and for the second consecutive game of their back-toback series with Thompson Rivers University, the Thunderbirds just managed to slide past the Wolfpack to improve their conference record to 4-0.

“It was way more [intense] than it needed to be,” said fifth-year Leigh Stansfield after Friday’s win, where she contributed 16 points.

A last-minute push in Friday’s game saw the T-Birds claw back from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 75-71. A barrage of Cassandra Knievel three-pointers helped spark the fourth quarter comeback and gave her a career high of 20 points.

Defensive lapses in the paint led to the T-Birds’ troubles early on throughout Friday’s contest. Despite being able to make several runs that seemed to be the start of UBC comebacks, the Wolfpack continued to get past the T-Birds’ interior defenders for easy layups.

“We weren’t really executing on defence,” said Stansfield. “[UBC head coach Deb Huband] kind of lit a fire under [us] at halftime.”

HOGAN WONG PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

UBC used a couple of last-minute efforts to pull out two wins on the weekend.

It certainly showed, as the T-Birds forced six Wolfpack turnovers in the final quarter. However, to continue to be successful, the team will have to get out to better starts; good teams will not allow them to come back.

“We’ve got to come out stronger,” said Knievel after Friday’s game.

“We were not really moving the ball or working as a team on offence.”

Saturday’s contest also came right down to the wire. Kris Young added to her list of great games by totalling 22 points, 10 rebounds — seven of which were offensive — and six assists, all the while playing a key role in the final minute of a contest that was neck-and-neck.

While down 70-68, Young took the ball in what looked like the T-Birds’ final possession of the

game, and with just 17 seconds to play, the third-year hit a tough jump-shot to tie the game at 70.

TRU was given the final possession and a chance to split the weekend double-header. But with eight seconds left, the ’Birds forced a Wolfpack turnover and the ball ended up in Stansfield’s hands. She hit the tie-breaking shot with four seconds left, putting UBC up to the final score of 72-70.

After this weekend’s performances, head coach Deb Huband will certainly be stressing defence to her young team.

“It’s great to [get] the win, but it was a really ugly game,” Huband said after Saturday’s game. “I was hoping that after [Friday] night, we’d be able to get a little bit closer to where we’re going, but I think we just really struggled on the defensive end. We need to improve our defence; we can’t give up 70 points a game.”

The T-Birds will face the University of Fraser Valley Cascades this Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. at War Memorial Gym, before travelling to Saskatchewan and Alberta the following weekend. U

BIRD DROPPINGS >>

UBC teams get out the brooms Hockey cruises to a sweep

Women’s volleyball dominates

UBC men’s hockey got back on track on the weekend, sweeping the University of Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary. Friday night saw the T-Birds prevail 7-2, while Saturday’s contest resulted in a 3-2 win.

The opener saw Cole Wilson lead the way with a hat trick. Max Grassi, Joe Antilla, Brad Hoban and Scott Wasden also added markers to help snap UBC’s mini two-game slide.

Saturday proved to be a much closer contest, with the teams trading goals until the third period.

Dillon Wagner broke the deadlock with nine minutes remaining in the third period to put UBC up one, and the ‘Birds held on for the win.

Steven Stanford picked up the win on Friday, while Jordan White played Saturday and made 32 saves for the victory.

UBC moves to 6-3-1 on the year and will take on Manitoba at home this weekend; puck drop is at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday night.

The UBC women’s volleyball team easily handled the University of Saskatchewan on the weekend, sweeping the Huskies 3-0 on both Friday and Saturday night.

UBC recorded an attack percentage of .455 on the night, with Shanice Marcelle and Jessica von Schilling leading the way with eight kills each. Brina Derksen-Bergen led the defence by tallying eight digs.

Saturday night was more of the same. UBC got out to early leads in each set and didn’t look back, winning again in three straight sets.

Currently ranked No. 2 in Canada, the ‘Birds (5-1) will head to Calgary next weekend for a two-game series.

Men’s basketball remains perfect A couple of wins over Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack have moved the UBC men’s basketball team to 4-0 on the season. The Thunderbirds took down the Wolfpack 82-70 on Friday and followed that up with a convincing 97-63 win on Saturday night.

First-year Isaiah Soloman sparked the T-Bird offence on Friday night, finishing with 18 points.

In total, five UBC players scored in double digits.

Saturday saw the T-Birds in command throughout the entire contest; they led 23-1 after one quarter and cruised the rest of the way. It was a balanced scoring effort, with 10 players contributing points.

UBC, currently ranked No. 1 in Canada, will take on Fraser Valley this weekend at home. Tipoff is 8 p.m. on Friday and 7 p.m. on Saturday at War Memorial Gym.

Men’s volleyball splits After being swept by Saskatchewan on Friday night, UBC men’s volleyball rallied on Saturday to tough out a five-set victory.

Currently ranked No. 8 in Canada, the ’Birds came out on top in an extremely close contest on Saturday against the No. 7 ranked Huskies.

David Zeyha led the way with 21 kills, while Quentin Schmidt had 14 kills and 15 digs.

UBC (2-4) will travel to Calgary next weekend.

UBC rowers victorious UBC had a strong showing at nationals in Victoria last weekend.

Katherine Enns picked up a silver medal in the women’s single lightweight, and UBC lightweight men’s pair Evan Cheng and Maxwell Lattimer swept both the senior and under-23 categories in the event.

Also, Valentin Dunsing earned a bronze medal in the lightweight men’s single, Rob Gage and Alex Janzen took fourth place overall in the men’s two-event and Zoe Fetting-Winn took the top spot for U23 women for U23 gold. U

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

SOCCER >>

| sports + rec | 7

SOCCER DOMINANCE

BY THE

NUMBERS

58 goals scored by UBC in 19 games this season.

10 goals allowed by the Thunderbirds in 19 games.

1allowed shot on goal that UBC in the final game against Cape Breton.

17 goals scored during the year by Gagandeep Dosanjh, Canada West MVP and CIS national tournament MVP.

6 players named CIS tournament all-stars:

Dosanjh, Luke O’Shea, Steve Johnson, Paul Clerc, Reynold Stewart and Brandon Bonifacio.

2Canadians: players named AllDosanjh was

named to the first team, and defenceman William Hyde was named to the secondteam.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF YAN DOUBLET

Thunderbirds refuse to lose 19 wins and 0 losses later, UBC men’s soccer are champions of Canada

The UBC men’s soccer team won their 12th national championship after defeating Cape Breton 1-0 in the CIS final on Sunday.

Andrew Bates Managing Editor, Web

They would not lose again.

After disappointment in previous years and a season of easy wins, the UBC men’s soccer team were one big game away from a CIS national championship when they lined up against the Cape Breton University Capers on Sunday afternoon at Laval University. This time, when it counted, UBC’s focus was overpowering.

The T-Birds were not going to slip behind early and find themselves shut out, which was how they lost their last national final to York University in 2010. They were not going to be shocked by a 90th-minute goal while riding out a stalemate to reach extra time, which was how they were turfed by the University of Alberta in Edmonton last year, before they could even make nationals. This time, they wanted to make good on the promise of an undefeated season.

And on Sunday, they did it. They snagged a goal early on and then locked the Capers out of the game.

The Thunderbirds held Atlantic champions, who led their conference in shots during the regular season, to exactly two shots in the final. Only one of those shots was on goal, and it wasn’t until the 81st minute.

The 1-0 score line didn’t reflect a decline in attack, either; the Thunderbirds could have added an insurance goal from several missed chances in the first half. They moved the ball, fed the attack and kept such utter control of the pitch that Cape Breton couldn’t steal the ball, and couldn’t muster anything when they had it.

“As the minutes started to churn away in the second half and they weren’t getting a sniff in and around our area, I was maybe as comfortable and confident as you can be with a one-goal lead in a championship game,” said UBC head coach Mike Mosher.

It’s a type of confidence a coach can rarely afford. Last year, the Thunderbirds thrived through a hail of offensive might, but stum-

bled somewhat when knocked off their stride. They went undefeated through Thanksgiving, but a loss to Victoria saw them drop nine of the last 15 points; despite staying close against Alberta in the Canada West final, they could not hold on in those last five minutes to seize a berth at nationals.

But this year was different. “[Dedication] never wavered throughout the whole season,” Mosher said. “Sometimes everybody can get a little bit worn down.

We never got worn down.

“I never sensed any sort of monotony.... This team was not going to be denied.”

But one couldn’t be blamed for wondering if there was monotony in the season. In a schedule unbal-

Mainland rivals Trinity Western University. It’s indicative of the Thunderbirds’ tenor at that point that Mosher said the players were disappointed to finish with a tie.

However, the undefeated season saw the whole roster thrive. New additions like midfielders Reynold Stewart and Milad Mehrabi joined up with Gagandeep Dosanjh to form an attack that didn’t rain down like previous iterations, but worked in tandem with the centre of the park. The midfield was nailed down by Marco Visintin and Brandon Bonifacio, two of the three fifth-year co-captains, who focused on dispossessing opposing players and firing outlet passes to speedy attackers.

After finishing the Canada West

hopes ended in pretty dramatic fashion,” Mosher said. “It didn’t matter who it was; the fact that we’d lost in that fashion with a good team ... just served as a pretty motivating factor.”

In the final, after going ahead early on a Mehrabi goal, Alberta stole back in the first minute of the second half, holding the final at a deadlock again. The game was testy, with jeers, chirps and a challenge on Dosanjh that Mosher said made the team livid.

“Quite honestly, it pissed everybody off. We had to calm all the players down,” he said. “The way you do it is go and stick another goal in the net, and lo and behold, who got the winning goal in that game?

Gags.”

anced to accommodate new schools that didn’t seem quite ready to hang with CIS teams, many of the results were comfortable victories, peaking with 6-0 and 8-0 wins against Lethbridge and UNBC, respectively.

It didn’t help that UBC couldn’t take down Alberta in the only regular season meeting, where they played to a 2-2 draw. They also drew both meetings with Lower

season with 11 wins, no losses and three draws — but with no wins against Alberta or TWU, the other two teams in the national top 10 rankings — UBC ended up back in the Canada West final against Alberta. Both teams had already qualified for nationals, but Mosher said the T-Birds wanted a banner, not revenge, for 2011.

“The fact is that our [2011] season ended and our dreams and our

In overtime, Dosanjh put it home to seal the conference title and the team’s first win against Alberta since 2009. “It showed that we, as a team, can battle it out,” Dosanjh said. “That win really proved that we had the character and we had the willpower and the team could actually get it done and not just roll teams over.”

Dosanjh had a sour 2011 season, despite emerging as rookie talent

the year before, but he bounced back to lead the Canada West in goals with 12 and finish as conference MVP. He said the team focused on preventing errors in order to rule out defeats like those in 2010 and 2011.

Come nationals, there were very few of those errors. Teams couldn’t cope with UBC’s early goals and suffocating control, which led to convincing 3-0 and 4-0 wins in the first two rounds. “We always put an emphasis on coming out strong and running teams into the ground early on,” Mosher said.

“You defend from the front and you make it easier on your backline and on your goalkeeper. With that pressure, we were able to win the ball, and ... the only pass that they really had was a long ball, and then you’re kicking it to the likes of [UBC defenders] Steve Johnson and Paul Clerc. You’re playing right to their strengths.”

By the final, everyone had their own reason why losing wasn’t an option, according to Mosher. There was Brandon Bonifacio, who was vocal about his determination to secure a championship before graduating. There was reliable defender William Hyde, who had crumbled in the 2010 final and wanted to avenge that.

Steve Johnson, who missed many of the team’s postseason opportunities through injuries, scored the winning goals in the quarterfinal and final. Midfielder Devin Gunenc, a co-captain dropped to the bench and shifted into defence due to a midfield of riches, put the team first and shone, according to Mosher.

“We practice on a pretty regular basis, once a week, scenarios where you’re up a goal, you’re down a goal with 15 minutes to go,” Mosher said, saying he reminded the team of this at halftime. “If we go to last 15 minutes — we practiced this, you guys know what to do.”

“We knew what it took to get to the finals,... but the only difference we had was the gutted feeling of losing in a final,” said Dosanjh. “We just made sure that none of that would ever happen again.” U

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

EDITOR ANNA ZORIA

BOOZE >>

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THEATRE >>

Women take the lead in Dancing at Lughnasa

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Rhys Edwards Senior Culture Writer

In its next mainstage production, Theatre at UBC blends religion, comedy and domestic turmoil into a powerful vision of family history.

Dancing at Lughnasa is a semi-autobiographical account of playwright Brian Friel’s childhood growing up in County Donegal, Northern Ireland, in 1936. Abandoned as an illegitimate love child, Friel’s character, Michael, scandalizes a deeply religious community.

Already embittered by their own conflicts, his five aunts, the Mundy sisters, must negotiate their difficult personalities to take care of the young Michael.

Dancing is, unfortunately, one of the few plays that features a cast of strong female protagonists. The lack of major roles for women is particularly salient for the theatre department’s acting students, the majority of whom are female.

“Just having a play in general that has five strong female characters doesn’t happen a lot.... Most plays are written about men,” said acting student Tracy Schut, who plays Kate Mundy.

Dancing is also renowned in both theatrical and academic circles for its witty, quintessentially Irish dialogue. According to acting student Emma Johnson, who plays Christina Mundy, the cleverness of the play’s language evokes the nature of Irish culture at that time in history.

“Words are so important, because they’re not only communicating to one another, but they’re also a form of play, a form of entertainment for ourselves when there really isn’t much else to do,” explained Johnson. “It’s the glue that holds these people together and keeps them from going insane.”

“The writing is fantastic, but it’s very complex,” added acting student Courtney Shields, who plays Maggie Mundy. “Part of it is [that] the playwright is Irish; it’s a different lens.... It’s not comedy in the way I think that North American audiences see comedy, but it is very funny in this sort of prickly way. There’s a lot of images buried in the writing and the language that make the play really beautiful, but also really meaty for the actors to deal with.”

The subtlety of Friel’s script has proven to be refreshing for the cast. Whereas previous mainstage theatre productions have focused on larger-than-life characters and spectacular stage action (such as March 2012’s Macbeth and September’s The Duchess), Dancing is a more intimate, dialogue-driven affair.

“With this one, we are real people, [and] this is how we’re interacting in these given circumstances,” said Schut. “These characters are multi-faceted; they’re complex. [We’re] not just playing one thing or realizing one emotion.”

It was this quality that attracted director John Cooper to the production. Cooper said he hopes that the poetic quality of the play will leave a lasting impression.

“Friel is a master playwright....

His dramatic writing is so specific and active that it constantly shows you what it expects from you,” said Cooper, who has been directing shows for over three decades across Canada. “He also speaks wonderful words and tells great stories in that fine Irish tradition — a true love of language.” U </em>

A

s the days get shorter, the nights get colder and exams loom on the horizon, few things can warm you up and soothe the nerves more than a hot, boozy beverage.

You’ll find this alcohol-infused tradition in any colder climate: the Swedish have Glögg, the British have the hot toddy, the Québécois have Caribou, and the rest of Canada has coffee with Baileys.

If you try our twist on these classic recipes, you should have no trouble keeping warm this winter.

HOT & BOOZY Four drinks that will warm you up during the cold winter days

1. RUM AND EGGNOG CHAI With a chai base and a splash of rum, this is a much lighter take on the most decadent of holiday drinks. <em>

1/2 cup eggnog 1 oz. rum Freshly steeped chai tea Pinch of grated nutmeg </em>

Heat a half-full mug of eggnog in the microwave, making sure it does not boil.

Add rum and top up with chai tea. Dust generously with nutmeg.

2. SPIKED PEPPERMINT MOCHA When the holidays arrive at Starbucks, so do the hordes of students eager for a festive fix.

Skip the line and relax at home with this spiked DIY version of a coffeehouse favourite.

1 cup freshly brewed coffee 1-2 tbsp. cocoa powder 1/4-1/2 tsp. peppermint extract 1 oz. Kahlua or vodka Milk (to taste) Sugar (to taste) Whipped cream Crushed candy cane <em>

</em>

Fill a mug three-quarters full with coffee and stir in cocoa powder. Add peppermint extract and liquor, adjusting to taste.

Add milk and sugar if desired, and top with whipped cream and crushed candy cane.

KAI JACOBSON PHOTO, KIM PRINGLE ILLUSTRATION/THE UBYSSEY

Ginger balances the sweetness of cider and gives it a surprising, spicy kick. The ginger pieces will soften and caramelize while cooking, so leave them in for a tasty garnish.

1 cup apple cider or juice 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 3 whole cloves 1 oz. sherry, brandy or rum

Combine apple cider, ginger and cloves in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in liquor.

4. MULLED WINE

<em>

</em>

</em>

<em>

</em>

<em>

em>

3. GINGERED APPLE CIDER

<em>

Mulled wine takes a bit more time and effort to prepare, which makes it the perfect drink option for putting together with friends

— especially if they bring the wine.

1 large orange 1 lemon 3/4 cup sugar 6 whole cloves 1 cinnamon stick 2 bay leaves 3 whole star anise 2 bottles cheap red wine <em>

</em>

Slice off long pieces of peel from

the orange and lemon; then slice them in half and squeeze the juice from each into a large saucepan. Stir in sugar, pieces of peel and spices, and boil the mixture for five minutes until syrupy.

Add red wine and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Ladle into glasses and serve with a twist of orange peel. Serves 5–10. U —Jessica Dawson

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

| Culture | 9

DEALS >>

KAI JACOBSON PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

Shhh! No one has to know it’s not your birthday.

Campus guide to birthday freebies Rhys Edwards Senior Culture Writer

Birthdays: that blessed time of year when one celebrates their successful departure from the womb and the staving-off of their immanent demise. As an opportunity to spend precious time with beloved friends and family and to reflect on life thus far, every birthday is a crucial juncture of growth and self-evaluation.

Much more important than any personal development, however, is the receiving of free stuff. As students, we need to pounce upon every deal we can get, and birthdays are the ideal time to gouge UBC’s cafés and restaurants for

everything they’re worth. Hold no quarter, for our venerable educational institution is unkind to our wallets.

With this mantra in mind, check out these local businesses for special birthday deals.

THE VILLAGE BOOSTER JUICE: Sign

up for the Booster Juice newsletter online.

You’ll get a coupon for a free smoothie on your birthday.

VERA’S BURGER SHACK: Sign

up for the Vera’s newsletter online.

You’ll get a $10 gift certificate on your birthday. The manager at the Vera’s in the Village also says that

THE UBYSSEY

he may give a 10 per cent discount to someone if it’s their birthday.

ON CAMPUS

BLENZ COFFEE: Show proof that it’s

MAHONY’S:

STARBUCKS: Register for a Starbucks

THE PIT PUB: Ask

<strong>

your birthday and you will receive a free medium coffee.

Card online. Use it at Starbucks and receive either a free drink or food item on your birthday.

ONE MORE SUSHI: Mention that

it’s your birthday to score a free dessert.

FRESH SLICE: The manager of the </strong>

Village Fresh Slice says that he will offer a discount to someone if they order an extra-large pizza on their birthday.

Ask your server very nicely and she might give you a free shot or dessert. </strong>

the bartender very nicely and he will give you “a free high five.”

Birthdays are the ideal time to gouge UBC’s cafés and restaurants for everything they’re worth.

BLUE CHIP COOKIES: No

discount, but they now offer giant “birthday cake cookies,” complete with personalized messages. Order two days in advance.

VANCOUVER’S WESTSIDE THE EATERY (3431 W. BROADWAY):

Mention it’s your birthday for a free dessert. With a larger party, you may also get a free Eatery T-shirt or pair of underwear.

THE NAAM (2724 W. 4TH AVE.): Show

proof that it’s your birthday and receive a percentage discount equal to the age you’re celebrating. U

LAST WORDS

Local politics can be sexy, too KATICHISMS

by Gordon Katic

INDIANA JOEL ILLUSTRATION/THE UBYSSEY

FARE HIKES MAKE POSTGRAD CALCULATIONS EASIER FOR UBC STUDENTS TransLink just announced its fare prices for 2013, and surprise, surprise — they’re going up.

TransLink announced Tuesday that the cost of fares will rise as much as 12.5 per cent in the new year. Starting Jan. 1, 2013, adult one-zone fares will rise to $2.75 — an increase of 25 cents — while the cost of a monthly three-zone pass will increase as much as $19. And while it’s still under negotiation, don’t expect the price of the U-Pass to stay static either.

As a student, you’re probably going to start thinking about opportunity costs once you’re out of university. Say you don’t have a job lined up immediately after graduation (har). Is it worth it to work where you can in Vancouver until you find something better?

Or does the prospect of paying $151 per month to commute from the suburbs make leaving Vancouver sound appealing?

At least anecdotally, we know that Vancouver has a tough time keeping young people around.

This additional sticker shock isn’t going to help matters. It’s time governments harness this populist outrage and start looking seriously at cost controls. Otherwise, the price of transit will be another mark against Vancouver for UBC students.

IF UNA WANTS TO BE A CITY COUNCIL, THEY SHOULD GET USED TO OUR PETULANT EDITORIALS It seems we have developed a beef with certain members of the University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA) executive.

At the last UNA meeting, at least three members of the UNA board complained about a Ubyssey ediorial that might have poked fun at the residents of campus neighbourhoods. We might have implied they were cranky, and definitely brought up the fact that they frequently try to assert themselves in ways that are detrimental to students.

The UNA chair even wanted to know who in the AMS runs The Ubyssey (we’ve been independent from the AMS since 1994).

There was a failed motion at the last UNA meeting to make committee meetings public.

Several board members raised concerns that only members of <em>

</em>

the media would show up. They said that observers might limit their ability to have open discussions. They also complained that one of our reporters showed up at a public meeting and quoted what speakers said.

The UNA keeps saying they are a city council and should be treated as one. Well, you know what happens at city councils?

People record the meetings.

Councillors are quoted in the media. And papers write far more critical editorials.

LET THE CHAN CASE HAVE A FULL, INDEPENDENT HEARING As usual, UBC is trying to control its own destiny in-house. But this time they want independence from legal process, and that’s worrying.

Jennifer Chan is a UBC professor who argues that she was passed over for a research chair position because racial bias crept into a sloppy appointment procedure. She went through UBC’s internal harassment and discrimination investigation process, but decided to take her complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal when UBC’s investigation looked biased.

The tribunal agreed that her case should go to a hearing after numerous attempts by UBC to have it thrown out. In March of this year, UBC applied to the B.C. Supreme Court for a judicial review of the tribunal’s decision.

The first round of hearings were held Tuesday.

Essentially, UBC is trying to block Chan’s complaint on the basis that she has used up her chance for appeal by first using the university’s internal method for dealing with these complaints. They say she’s shopping for a sympathetic judge.

The argument that private dispute resolution takes legal recourse off the table is worrying for two reasons. The first is that UBC has a questionable historical record of handling these issues fairly. It isn’t necessarily broken, but it does raise issues of whether an organization can fairly investigate itself.

It is worrying, then, that UBC thinks that its process should stand outside the jurisdiction of the independent Human Rights Tribunal — that if you’re intimidated and worried and possibly don’t know anything about the two methods, you should be forced to make an irreversible choice.

UBC’s lawyer says this is a unique case, that the tribunal

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

STUDENT VOICE. COMMUNITY REACH.

screwed up their decision and let the case go to hearing on a technicality. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is an important institution, but it isn’t held in high regard by the public; it’s largely seen as an outlet for people who like to feel sorry for themselves. Bleeding faculty and staff through drawn-out legal battles might end up becoming UBC’s preferred strategy for dealing with these complaints.

If UBC is confident in its equity policies, it should let them be tested in the public eye through a full independent hearing. UBC argues that it would be a waste of public resources.

Isn’t it even worse to fight this case through to the highest court in B.C., with the argument that “our policies are really good”? If Chan’s case goes through, it will be the sort of test UBC’s equity policies could really use.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRAD STUDENTS AND UBC STILL UNRESOLVED UBC’s strike-ridden autumn ended last week with the TA union and the university brokering a deal. They got the same raise everyone else did. And they’ve been placated by a couple of snazzy contract provisions that won’t cost UBC more money, even though they didn’t get anywhere near what they came in for.

Throughout their dispute, UBC was adamant that they would only negotiate about on-the-job stuff, and tuition and other grad funding issues were off the table.

But when UBC refused to consider the broader financial situation for grad students, they left some major problems unaddressed.

Grad students are only paid by the hour in specific settings — leading labs and discussion groups, marking papers and so on. During the rest of their time, they wind up doing a lot of free or poorly funded labour. It contributes to their degree requirements, sure, but it also greatly benefits their grad supervisor or principal investigator.

The pipeline isn’t leaky; it’s broken. We’re glad the TA union got a small raise, but universities still exploit grad students in other ways. If they want anything to change while they’re off the clock, they will need to raise hell on their own, without the convenient narrative of a labour battle supported by one of Canada’s largest public-sector unions, if they want anything to change while they’re off the clock. U

One of the challenges of writing a regular column in The Ubyssey is that our publication is UBC-focused, while most of our audience simply isn’t. It is plain to see that students care much more about international politics than local politics.

Right now, who could talk about mundane things like UBC’s governance structure or the long-term sustainability of TransLink? We have to make fantastical prognostications about Obama’s second term, or prattle on about General Petraeus’s sensational sex life!

There is no single reliable statistical indicator to demonstrate this phenomena, but the closest thing is the persistently dismal turnout for AMS elections. Typically only 8-15 per cent of students vote in AMS elections, while my Facebook feed is still ablaze from the recent U.S. election.

Why? Tweeting about the failure of Petraeus’s counter-insurgency plan will have little to no effect on Obama’s AFPAK strategy, but harassing AMS President Matt Parson might bring real changes to things that are important to every UBC student.

Therein lies the paradox of our political consciousness: our attention is inversely correlated to our influence. The average student almost certainly spends more time on international politics than they do Canadian politics than they do provincial politics than they do local politics, but their influence runs in the other direction.

The standard response is simple: local politics are boring. However, anyone who has followed politics at UBC knows this to be patently false.

Just look at the stories of our past few decades: a complaint filed to the UN; The Ubyssey locked out by an AMS executive who didn’t care for having a media watchdog; protesters so moved that they actually sewed their lips shut; snipers on the roof of the Chan Centre; an AMS president who attempted to provoke a federal investigation to smear his political opponents as supporters of terrorism. Is this

not riveting political theatre?

On the other hand, the recent U.S. election couldn’t have been a more boring affair. Two corporate candidates spent the better part of a year re-reading the same tired scripts, only to end up exactly where they began: a moderate president, a Republican House and a Democratic Senate.

OK, but local politics doesn’t mean anything, right? At an international level, we’re talking about life and death; at a local level, we’re talking about student fees and parking meters.

There is more substance to this retort, but it leaves much to be desired. Certainly global issues are profoundly important, but that is not to say our local issues are trivial.

The City of Vancouver’s recent transit plan dubiously zones under-populated areas as “transit corridors” to encourage development and extend gentrification further eastward through Vancouver, says the Mainlander .

In The Ubyssey , you will learn how UBC pilfers 23 per cent of all student rent through a complicated “internal loan” scheme, where the university charges exorbitant interest to itself and forces students to foot the bill.

The Tyee documents the systematic dismantling of B.C.’s environmental assessment legislation: first, the legislation’s statement of purpose was removed, and next, the re-written legislation forced the assessment process “to be consistent with the policies of the government of the day — a death knell, say critics, to the independence of the office and its work.”

Don’t get me wrong: I am not advocating the political equivalent of a 100-mile diet. We must be critical of Obama’s inaction on climate change, evisceration of cherished civil liberties, clamp-down on whistle-blowers, dangerous provocations of Iran and continued support for undemocratic regimes all over the world.

However, we should recognize that change begins at a local level. If we start from the politics of our backyard — winning the important personal, political and professional fights — bigger changes will follow. U <em>

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Late exam schedule racks up airfare costs UBC takes pride in being a LETTER school with an international student body. It must consider the

To the editor:

UBC releases all final examination dates at the beginning of October, though students registered for those courses in late June. The university claims to do so because it minimizes exam conflicts and hardships. However, the late release of exam dates results in an extra cost to students who are making travel plans for the end of semester (i.e. booking flights).

This may seem insignificant, but booking a flight earlier significantly reduces the cost of travel for students. Even during the three months that pass between registration and the release of the university exam schedule, students can see a dramatic increase in the cost of their trip home. In some cases flights can increase by over $600, which could be the difference between some students being able to go at all.

impracticality of the late exam release dates. As it stands, UBC already has over 8,500 international students, and that does not include out-of-province students. If we say flight prices increase on average by $300 from September to October, and say 6,000 UBC students are forced to wait to book their flights, that is 1.8 million wasted dollars that could be saved by UBC students per year. That is most likely a conservative estimate. The real amount could be upwards of $3 million.

Exam conflicts and hardships will likely occur regardless, and if the system is the reason holding back the release of exam dates, the system should be updated.

—Nathan Bird Economics student

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012 |

PICTURES + WORDS ON YOUR UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE

CLASS CURVES

11

What I’m Drinking Now Pre-Finals Edition

STUDENTS (#)

What does grade distribution say about your class?

GRADES (%)

The Bell Curve is a university staple.

Many courses are scaled so that students are graded relative to each other. It’s normally distributed, meaning most grades fall within a certain distanace of the mean average. At some point, it’s likely you’ll take a class that’s graded on a bell curve. And you’ll hope that your class doesn’t have that one kid who messes up the system for everyone else by getting 100 per cent.

COLT 45

Source: That bench near the bus stop

COUGH SYRUP

Source: Shoppers Drug Mart

COFFEE

STUDENTS (#)

Source: Great Dane Coffee Shop

TEQUILA

Source: The 24-hour liquor store on Broadway we wish existed

“The Double Hump”

STUDENTS (#)

GRADES (%)

Things start getting murky here. This curve says your class has a whole bunch of people who get it and a whole bunch of people who don’t. Scaling marks up won’t help everyone - only those who are already on top. Get the junk out of your trunk and start studying ‘cause you really don’t want to be stuck on the wrong side of these humps.

“The Baggage”

GRADES (%)

This curve tells you that the students in your class are all over the place. There are a few students at every grade level, and here’s where the baggage comes in. Some instructors will want their classes to be normally distributed so they’ll devise a scaling method that most helps those who don’t understand. The lower your grade, the more bell curving is going to help you out in this one.

HACKÉDEX

YOUR UBC WORD OF THE WEEK

Canadian Interuniversity Sport­(CIS) is the national governing organization of university sports in Canada. It includes the majority of all large universities throughout the nation, including UBC. CIS is divided by regions, meaning that UBC competes in the Canada West conference.

PIC OF THE WEEK

KAI JACOBSON PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

A behind-the-scenes shot from our winter drinks feature.

Tweets of the Week

@overheardatubc What if cats had their own Internet that was full of pictures of people?” (via @jayee16) #UBC @JacquiiNoel Goodbye all aspects of my life that I enjoy. I’m going to miss you #midterms

@gorgopa Now I remember why I never come to this class, the prof treats us like we’re in kindergarten. #100LevelCourseProblems @tripnslide So about that paper... or 2. #StudentPains

12 | games |

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012

58- Divide 61- Comfortable 62- Make ___ for it 63- Audacious 65- Lubricates 66- Circular band 67- Instant 68- ___ first you don’t...

69- Entr’___ 70- Consumers 71- Lady of Spain

55- Israeli seaport 56- Religion of the Muslims 57- Jai alai basket 58- Franklin D.’s mother 59- Actor Stoltz 60- Football kick 61- Affirmative votes 64- TV adjunct

DOWN

PUZZLES COURTESY BESTCROSSWORDS.COM. USED WITH PERMISSION.

ACROSS 1- Super Bowl XXXIV champs 5- Very, to Verdi 10- Ladies of Sp. 14- Baseball family name 15- Some horses 16- Cabbage-like plant 17- Narrow ledge 18- Suckle 19- First name in fashion 20- Having a handle 22- Vigorous exercises 24- Molars, e.g.

25- Imaginary 26- Winder for holding flexible

material 28- Big brass 32- Tract 35- Verily 37- Slum area inhabited by a minority group 38- Lush 39- Fit for a king 41- Great length of time 42- Fancy home 45- Farm female 46- Treater’s words 47- Australia’s ___ Rock 48- Electric fish 50- Animal bite worry 54- Moral principle

1- Capital on the Atlantic 2- Coeur d’___ 3- Code name 4- Large island of Indonesia 5- “Judith” composer 6- Trifling amount 7- It’s a wrap 8- Goose genus 9- Grenoble’s river 10- Azure 11- Sitarist Shankar 12- A Baldwin brother 13- Cong. meeting 21- Common article 23- Swear words 25- Peter Fonda title role 27- Fictional Jane 29- Bingo call 30- Molecular component 31- Unit of loudness 32- On the main 33- Optimistic 34- Kitchen addition 36- Word that can succeed old, ice and bronze 37- High level of satisfaction 40- Amazes 43- Place in order 44- Former Russian ruler 46- Bonelike 49- Permit 51- African language group 52- Anatomical passages 53- Spine-tingling

PUZZLE COURTESY OF KRAZYDAD. USED WITH PERMISSION.

First person to enter The Ubyssey office and debate who should win the AL MVP award with C.J. Pentland gets 100 free copies of the paper. Great for reading or making paper baseball bats!

COME BY THE UBYSSEY OFFICE: SUB 24, FOLLOW THE SIGNS