March 7, 2013

MArcH 7, 2013 | VolUME xciV| iSSUE xliV I WILL EAT MY HAT SINCE 1918

bacK to tHe bases, ‘birds UBC’s baseball and so ball teams gear up for another competitive year on the diamond P5

BOLLYWOOD BLITZ UBC Film Society recieves large donation of Hindi movies on 35 mm film P8

sometHinG in tHe Water

UBC LEADS ON WOMEN

Totem Park residents complain over pipe sealant particles in water from showers, taps p3

p6

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

YoUr gUiDE To UBc EVENTS + PEoPlE

WHat’s on THURSDAY

THiS WEEk, MAY WE SUggEST...

our campus

oNE oN oNE WiTH THE PEoPlE WHo MAkE UBc

7 Wom suppl en’s emen issue t

DINING OUT FOR lIFE

Put away that frozen pizza and dine out on Thursday. Have breakfast, lunch or dinner at one of 200 participating restaurants in the lower Mainland to support individuals living with HiV/AiDS.

FRIDAY

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Check o ut page six for the full s upplem ent

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CONCERT AT THE BElKIN 2–3:30 P.M. @ BELKIN ART GALLERY

kAi jAcoBSoN PHoTo/THE UBYSSEY

Take a break in your friday afternoon and stop by the Belkin gallery for a free concert put on by the UBc contemporary Players. The concert celebrates the gallery’s current exhibition, Esther Shalev-gerz.

Michelle Chiu shines light on healthcare issues SATURDAY

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UBC ANIME ClUB COSPlAY CAFE

1–6 P.M. @ SUB BALLROOM

cosplay in the SUB, you say?

Dress up and bring out your favourite characters while enjoying sweets, treats and conversation from the cosplay café! Minimum meal puchase of $5.

ON THE COVER

EMMA DoUglAS coVEr PHoTo/THE UBYSSEY

remeber that time last year where some places in Totem Park residence lacked hot water? Well, the problems are back, with showers spewing discolored water and students petitioning for things to be fixed.

Video content Too lazy to read today’s paper? Get the three minute video recap online at ubyssey.ca/videos/.

U THE UBYSSEY editorial

Senior Lifestyle Writer Justin Fleming jfleming@ubyssey.ca

Coordinating Editor Jonny Wakefield coordinating@ubyssey.ca Features Editor Arno Rosenfeld Managing Editor, Print features@ubyssey.ca Jeff Aschkinasi printeditor@ubyssey.ca Video Editor David Marino Managing Editor, Web video@ubyssey.ca Andrew Bates Copy Editor webeditor@ubyssey.ca Karina Palmitesta News Editors copy@ubyssey.ca Will McDonald + Art Director Laura Rodgers Kai Jacobson news@ubyssey.ca art@ubyssey.ca Senior News Writer Graphics Assistant Ming Wong mwong@ubyssey.ca Indiana Joel ijoel@ubyssey.ca Culture Editor Anna Zoria Layout Artist culture@ubyssey.ca Collyn Chan cchan@ubyssey.ca Senior Culture Writer Rhys Edwards Videographer redwards@ubyssey.ca Lu Zhang lzhang@ubyssey.ca Sports + Rec Editor Webmaster CJ Pentland Riley Tomasek sports@ubyssey.ca webmaster@ubyssey.ca

staff Bryce Warnes, josh curran, Peter Wojnar, Anthony Poon, Veronika Bondarenko, Yara Van kessel, catherine guan, ginny Monaco, Matt Meuse, Hogan Wong, rory gattens, Brandon chow, joseph Ssettuba. Tyler Mcrobbie, Sarah Bigam, Stephanie xu, Natalya kautz, colin chia, kim Pringle

Chaneil hale Contributor

Michelle Chiu exemplifies UBC’s Tuum Est motto (“It is up to you”) perfectly; never settling for the conventional path, Chiu has volunteered, interned, studied and worked her way to a hugely impressive resume.

Last year Chiu completed her commerce degree at UBC and was a finalist for the Young Women of Distinction 2012 award. Now, she’s in an equally competitive setting at UBC med school. Her journey at UBC is best understood from her mentality in first year: “When I entered university, I decided to just jump in right away and explore as many opportunities as I could.”

From the start of her commerce degree, Chiu demonstrated leadership capabilities, and continues to do so through a smorgasbord of extracurricular activities: she is a Junior Team Canada youth ambassador, a member of the Sauder debate team, a volunteer at the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and has interned at two finance and accounting firms.

Chiu has also received the Premier and Wesbrook scholarships, two of the most prestigious awards given out by UBC. They are awarded to senior students who demonstrate outstanding leadership skills, academic performance and community service.

Although her time as a commerce undergrad was rewarding, medicine was Chiu’s original passion.

When it came time for graduate school, trading her Sauder business suit for hospital scrubs was a natural choice.

“To be honest, during high school, I thought I would be pursuing medicine,” Chiu said. “When I applied to UBC, my first choice was actually sciences.

However, I had heard from my more senior friends about how great Sauder was, and I read some of the course descriptions and thought, ‘Hey, this is pretty interesting.’”

One of Chiu’s goals is to improve the efficiency of

PhoTo FRienDS! MArcH 7, 2013 | VolUME xciV| iSSUE xliV

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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 artwork contained

the Canadian health care system.

“I guess when we talk about improving health care, we hear a lot about accessibility, efficiency and quality. And each of them in themselves is a huge, huge issue,” she said.

“There are many different problems or challenges within each one, and many different solutions. One particular aspect that I am interested in is the use and management of technology to improve efficiency, accessibility and quality of health care.

“For example, electronic medical health records — not just using them in hospital settings, but also in primary care family practice offices.”

Chiu explained that in Canada, only about 37 per cent of family practices use an electronic medical record-keeping system, whereas in most of the Commonwealth countries around 95 per cent of family practices use technology to keep a much more efficient record system.

“We are really lagging behind in terms of medical health records use, and I think it’s important because it helps with the continuity of care, between specialists, and from primary to tertiary care,” Chiu said.

“There’s also tele-health — using Skype-like services to reach people who are in, for example, northern B.C. or rural, remote areas. I think that also has a lot of potential in improving accessibility. And even mobile apps, for both patients and physicians, I think all of these technologies can be utilized better to improve the health care system.”

With these goals in mind, Chiu is currently involved in a research project on a mobile application called the “phone oximeter.”

“It’s basically a device that’s been developed by B.C. Children’s Hospital, their anesthesiology team,” Chiu said. “And what it is, it’s a sensor that connects to a phone on one end and your patient’s finger on the other, and it measures important vital signs, such as your heart rate, your oxygen saturation.”

Chiu is excited to continue on her current path, improving the world one project at a time. U

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pHotoGrapH for THE UBYSSEY Kai Jacobson | art@ ubyssey.ca

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

EDITORS WILL Mcdonald + laura rodgers

Student Housing >>

3

Graduate students >>

Grad student prez inherits surplus, Koerner’s woes Will McDonald News Editor

<No data from link>/THE UBYSSEY

Water contaminated with a non-toxic pipe sealant has been flowing out of faucets in Totem Park’s Nootka house since December 2012.

Totem residents seek refund for water problems

Sarah Bigam Staff Writer

There’s epoxy resin in the water at Totem Park’s Nootka House — and some residents don’t want to drink it.

Since December 2012, Nootka residents have been concerned about the dark, purplish particles they periodically found discolouring their tap water. They’ve also experienced intermittent issues with water pressure and lack of hot water throughout the building.

UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) officially contacted residents about the problem by email on Feb. 1. Kyle Lethbridge, residence life manager for Totem Park North, told Nootka residents that the particles are a nontoxic pipe sealant. David Kiloh, facilities and building services director for SHHS, said the sealant is called Curapoxy, an epoxy pipe coating and sealant.

The sealant, when cured, is declared to be safe for use in drinking water. However, safety regulations recommend flushing the pipes for 15

NEWS BRIEFS

AMS supports microbrewery at UBC Farm instead of new SUB The AMS microbrewery won’t be in the new SUB. At Wednesday night’s council meeting, the AMS approved a motion to spend up to $1.1 million over the next four years to build a microbrewery on the UBC Farm.

The microbrewery was originally slated for the new SUB, but Elin Tayyar, former AMS VP Finance and a member of the AMS committee in charge of the brewery, said the Farm was a more cost-effective location. Tayyar also said the new SUB would have provided less space for the brewery, limiting production and storage of beer.

The AMS hopes to make the microbrewery part of the new UBC Farm Centre, which is scheduled for completion in 2017.

“I think doing it in the Farm just makes way too much sense. Although it’s a little bit down the timelines, it is building it for the future generations,” said Tayyar. “The new SUB would have been a nice marketing tool … [but] it makes a lot more sense to do it on the farm.”

The AMS still needs to negotiate an agreement with the university to be able to use the space on the UBC Farm.

“There’s been a lot of support form the UBC executive since day one, so I’m hoping that support still exists,” said Tayyar.

The AMS is looking for a third party to help run the brewery. U

minutes after application to remove any potentially harmful chemicals, according to health and safety standards organization NSF. The chemicals in the sealant may cause skin and eye irritation, according to its manufacturer.

Siloh said the sealant was applied to the pipes in the building to temporarily repair leaks. He said SHHS plans to replace the building’s pipes in the summer because it would be too disruptive to residents to replace them during the school year. He said SHHS regularly tests the water for safety.

Lethbridge held a meeting with Nootka residents on March 4 to discuss the issue. Around 18 of the approximately 200 residents attended, including the residence coordinator of the building and residence advisors from three of the six floors.

Residents at the meeting expressed concerns about the safety of the water.

Nootka resident McKenzie Hannewyk recounted one experience where flecks appeared

midway through her shower and she immediately got a rash on her neck, chest, shoulders and back.

This occurred after the temporary repairs had taken place in January.

“It was just really itchy, which is like — to me, that’s the same as pain. I was in a lot of discomfort,” she said. Although the rash went away after an hour, Hannewyk said she remains skeptical about showering with the house’s water.

Lethbridge said he sympathized with her experience, but when a similar situation occurred in another residence in the past, no residents had any adverse reactions to the sediment in the water.

Students also brought up the inconveniences of having to go to other houses to shower or to the cafeteria, which is closed for 11 hours of the day, to get water to drink.

Some residents have asked to receive compensation for the inconvenience of the water situation, but they were told UBC wouldn’t give them any money. In 2012, students in two other Totem Park

houses received $220 or $240 due to an ongoing lack of hot water.

“As long as we respond to these situations in a timely manner and we put actions in place to correct them, we’re doing our part in that side that we don’t have to provide compensation,” said Lethbridge.

Nootka residents Tracey Gaydosh and Ho Yi Kwan said they felt particularly frustrated with the process and their confusion over who to contact in order to fix this problem.

“Everyone just directs us back to a different person. It seems like there’s no end,” said Kwan.

Gaydosh and Kwan plan to start a petition asking SHHS to compensate Nootka residents for the ongoing water issues. They plan to collect signatures on Thursday and Friday of this week, and present them to Janice Robinson, UBC director of residence life and administration, this Saturday. <em>

—With files from Laura Rodgers.

</em>

—Editor’s note: Sarah Bigam is a resident of Nootka House. U </em>

U of Windsor >>

Students petition for aboriginal law program

Faiza Mirza The Lance (University of Windsor)

A petition is circulating at the University of Windsor’s law school over the potential creation of an aboriginal law program.

Caitlin L. Beresford, one of the initiators of the petition and a student of the law school, said the school currently has only two courses on aboriginal law.

According to Beresford, frustration with a local program that some of the students were involved in was prompted them to initiate this proposal.

“It originally started as a program to assist aboriginal people within the community but, as we continued discussing options between ourselves and our class and what was going to be cost effective, we realized that a specialization program at Windsor would actually be more relevant,” said Beresford.

Michelle Pilutti, assistant dean in administration at Windsor Law School, stressed the significance of providing justice to all members of society.

“Access to justice is an important theme at Windsor Law. It is through this lens that we strive to maintain student accessibility, particularly from underrepresented groups, and to provide support structures to ensure success in our academic programs,” said Pilutti.

Photo Bloomberries/Flickr

U of W students are petitioning the university to create a law program focusing on aboriginal issues.

“It is crucial that Canadian universities, particularly law schools, respond to the access to justice needs of aboriginal people,” she added.

According to Beresford, very few Canadian universities offer programs in aboriginal law and most of them don’t give students the option of graduating with a specialized degree.

“The program would allow for those interested in aboriginal law to gain theoretical and practical knowledge and experience,” said Beresford. “The program similarly would allow us to serve a population in need of legal assistance, by supporting aboriginal clients through advocacy and research.”

Beresford said the law school is currently in the preliminary phase of curriculum development.

For now, the proposal entails

inclusion of mandatory indigenous legal traditions and aboriginal law in society classes, as well as participation in the aboriginal Kawaskimhon moot and independent research project.

Pilutti is hopeful that by developing an area of specialization in aboriginal law, the interest and number of aboriginal applicants will increase.

The petition for the program is complete and the students are being approached to sign it. Once the petition is closed and the proposal is finalized, the request will be submitted to the dean’s office for consideration.

“We have support from Legal Aid Ontario, as well as other firms that specialize in aboriginal law and, hopefully, this will become a reality for next semester,” said Beresford.

Low engagement has plagued the Graduate Student Society (GSS) for years. When its newly elected president, genome science Ph.D. student Chris Roach, takes office at the end of the month, he wants to fix this.

Roach said his main goal as president will be to increase student involvement, and he hopes to change the GSS to appeal to more students.

He said he wants to get more grad students, from more departments, running for elected positions in the GSS. Many departments have trouble finding students willing to represent them, and department reps are often forced to leave the society’s council before their terms end because they skip too many council meetings.

Roach ran for president unopposed. In this year’s GSS executive elections, fewer than five per cent of the 9,353 eligible grad students voted.

“That’s kind of my number one priority this year,” said Roach. “I’m disappointed with the elections turnout, but that’s something next year, we’re really going to be striving to change that.”

Roach said Koerner’s Pub, a campus pub formerly run by the society that closed in 2011, won’t reopen until September 2013 at the earliest.

The pub was shut down after losing almost $200,000 from 2010 to 2011.

Roach said the GSS is still ironing out the details of a contract with HK Commerce, the third-party company who will run the pub. He said he didn’t know the details of the contract, but said the society would either earn a certain amount of money from the pub or a percentage of profits, whichever is higher.

“It’s essentially set up in a way that there is no way for us to lose money … like we did a few years ago,” said Roach.

Roach said he will inherit a budget surplus as president, but has yet to determine what he will do with the extra few thousand dollars.

One of the main roles of the GSS is lobbying the government for grad student funding. Unlike the Alma Mater Society, UBC’s main student organization, the GSS is still a member of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), an organization of student societies that lobbies the federal government. Roach said CASA is a useful organization as long as the GSS’s interests align with those of other CASA members.

Roach said he is waiting on a report on CASA to come to the society’s council before he makes any conclusions about the value of being a member of the organization.

Roach said he also plans to lobby the provincial government for increased research funding. He plans to join forces with other B.C. universities to push for more scholarships for graduate students.

The GSS is in the middle of drafting new bylaws to replace the outdated rules for the society. The changes didn’t pass at the society’s special general meeting at the end of February, but Roach is hopeful they will go through at the annual general meeting scheduled for March 28.

“The work they’ve done, in my own opinion, it’s fantastic work and it will probably go through at the AGM.... I hope it does,” said Roach.

Roach officially takes office on March 28. U

4 | NEWS |

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

b.c. GoVernment >>

post secondary >>

advanced ed. minister yap out Name that minister over ‘ethnic votes’ scandal Since the B.c. liberals came into power in 2001, there have been seven different ministers in charge of post-secondary education.

With little time before the provincial election, junior minister Ralph Sultan takes over role laura Rodgers News Editor

The B.C. Liberal minister of advanced education, John Yap, has stepped aside from cabinet over the fallout from a leaked internal party memo.

Yap has been the minister of advanced education since September 2012, and has also served as the minister of state for multiculturalism since March 2012. His removal from cabinet comes as a response to a Liberal document that described the use of government resources to reach out to ethnic voters in the lead-up to this spring’s provincial election. The document indicated that apologies for historical wrongs upon certain ethnic groups should be issued in the run-up to the election to achieve “quick wins” on the campaign trail.

Ralph Sultan, MLA for West Vancouver Capilano and current minister of state for seniors, has been temporarily appointed to take over the ministry of advanced education, as well as the ministry of multiculturalism.

Although Yap was not the minister of state for multiculturalism in January 2012, which is when the memo is dated, he will step aside from both of his cabinet positions until the Liberals conclude an investigation into their ethnic-votes strategy.

“When mistakes occur, and they do, we must confront them and take responsibility for them.

I’ve talked to [John Yap], and he

has agreed that he is going to step aside from cabinet,” said Premier Christy Clark in the legislature on Monday afternoon.

Sultan said he learned of his two new appointments less than two hours before Clark announced them.

“I’m not really well-briefed on specific activities in the ministry right now. This is one of the bigger ministries of government; it’s big, it’s complicated, there’s a heck of a lot going on,” said Sultan in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

“I know about certain aspects of it.… I’m an alumnus of UBC, I passed the bill creating Quest University.… I’ve been involved very much in the life of Harvard as an alumnus and former professor,” Sultan continued. “So I’ve been engaged in many, many aspects of the post-secondary world, but I … have not yet been briefed on everything that’s going on in advanced education.”

Sultan graduated from UBC with an engineering degree in 1956, and then went on to earn an MBA, an MA and Ph.D. in economics at Harvard. He later worked as an associate professor at Harvard, and has been the chair of the business school advisory committee at Queen’s University.

When asked what he thought the top issues in the ministry were, Sultan mentioned the budget crunch and a recent move to create “quality assurance” branding for reputable, provincially vetted post-secondary

institutions.

The quality assurance initiative was publicized in a news release sent out midday Monday — a release that still bore Yap’s name.

Post-secondary institutions in B.C. are receiving an overall $5 million cut in their operating funding during next year, and the Liberal Party’s current spending plan calls for $20 million and $25 million cuts in the two years after that. Sultan said, “The budgets are certainly constrained,” but noted that operating funds had risen steadily under the Liberals from 2001 until 2009.

“I’m not really in a position to comment further on budget matters, but I would certainly want to dispel the idea that this government is not treating the advanced ed. sector very generously,” said Sultan.

When Yap still held the position, he said a far-reaching plan to centralize various services across B.C. universities would help schools make up for the cuts to operating funds. Sultan said he was unaware of any work going on toward this plan. “I’m totally in the dark on the centralization of services, so you’ve got me there,” he said.

For whatever length of time Sultan runs the ministry, advanced education will have to share time with his other current duties. “I have a few other responsibilities, such as seniors, such as the multicultural file.…

They’ve loaded me up at the moment,” he said. U

SHIRlEY BOND:

Minister of advanced education, 2001–2004

in 2002, lifted the tuition freeze that was in effect since 1996 under the previous NDP government.

IDA CHONG:

Minister of advanced education, 2004–2005 Minister of regional, economic, and skills development (colleges and institutes), 2010–2011 Minister of science and universities, 2010–2011

Sat in during brief, repeated periods during a time when the liberals were frequently shuffling the responsibility for universities and colleges. in 2004–2005, weathered protests from student groups over quickly rising tuition.

MURRAY COEll:

Minister of advanced education, 2005–2009

Under coell, five colleges across the province were renamed as universities: capilano University, Emily carr University of Art and Design, kwantlen Polytechnic University, University of the fraser Valley and Vancouver island University (née Malaspina).

MOIRA STIllWEll:

Minister of advanced education and labour market development, 2009–2010 Minister of regional, economic, and skills development (colleges and institutes), 2010

After professional program tuition rose very quickly under previous ministers, Stillwell introduced a tuition cap.

NAOMI YAMAMOTO: Minister of advanced education, 2011–2012

As the first advanced education minister under new liberal leader christy clark, Yamamoto pushed for more international student enrolment.

JOHN YAP:

Minister of advanced education, 2012–current (on leave)

RAlPH SUlTAN:

Minister of advanced education, 2013–current (interim)

Also serving as the minister of state for seniors, former Harvard professor Sultan is taking over the ministry temporarily.

Pushed for an increased focus on trades and technical education.

Temporarily left his post over a scandal that touches on his other cabinet position — he was also the minister of state for multiculturalism.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

EDiTor C.J. PENTLAND

season preVieW >>

UBC baseball brings balanced attack C.J. Pentland Sports + Rec Editor

The UBC baseball team finds itself in a tough situation every spring.

Thanks to the success of some of its players, the team usually ends up losing several key players to the Major League Baseball draft, and this proved to be the case once again last June when top pitcher David Otterman and infielder Keaton Briscoe were drafted and signed by the Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox, respectively.

Add in graduating seniors and injuries, and it means that the Thunderbirds inevitably have large holes that they need to replace on the next year’s roster.

But thanks to an influx of new transfers, the ’Birds appear to be in good shape for the 2013 season.

Head coach Terry McKaig was pleased by how his team played during their 12 preseason contests: as they finished 6-6 but dropped a few close games that could’ve seen them win at least eight games. And during this past weekend’s regular season openers, UBC played well against a tough Menlo College team to earn two wins over four games.

Pitching will remain the focal point this year. There is no real ace at the moment, but there are a number of young arms that have shown potential. Alex Graham has been one of the most successful pitchers so far, throwing five scoreless innings against Menlo on the weekend. Freshman Jeremy Newton also had a strong preseason, giving up no runs over 11 innings pitched. Matt Thornton, Sean Callegari, Connor Willis-White, Alex Webb and Miles Verweel will also all see significant innings this season.

Offence will be the strong point for the ’Birds this year, as they sport a well-balanced lineup with several players competing for time at each position. There is no real homerun hitter among them, but rather several hitters who blend speed and power effectively.

The meat of the lineup will be infielders Andrew Firth and Jeremy Kral, who will typically bat third and fourth, respectively. The top of the order has seen changes, but it can be expected that players such as shortstop Tyson Popoff, outfielder Sebastian Wong, infielder Kevin Biro and catcher Greg Densem will play the role of table setters.

However, the real threat of the

lineup, according to McKaig, is that the entire lineup can produce runs. Players like Jerod Bartnik, Mike Hole, Turner Spears, Brody Hawkins and Austin Fruson all may hit near the bottom of the order, but all are threats when they are at the plate.

The T-Birds’ speed will also help them be a top defensive team.

The outfielders, led by KP Hlatky, possess strong arms and quick feet; McKaig considers Hlatky one of the best fielders that has played for UBC. Bartnik, Wong, Cam Firth and Tyler Enns will also see playing time at the outfield positions.

The infield has a number of players who can play several positions.

Kral is the starting first baseman for now, thanks to his big bat, but Hole and Fruson can also play the position. Second base will feature Biro, Spears and Vincent Ching, while Popoff will be the mainstay at shortstop. Andrew Firth will see the majority of his time at third base.

The ’Birds will once again be playing in the NAIA West conference, taking on teams from around the western United States. Their overall goal is to make the NAIA World Series in Idaho at the end of May, something they have only accomplished once in 2006. But first, they need to succeed in the NAIA West Regional Tournament.

UBC had a successful regular season in 2012, but injuries and an untimely slump knocked the T-Birds out in that tournament, delivering a premature end to a promising season.

It’s a 16-game regular season for UBC, and playoffs will start on May 1 at a location that is to be determined. Games will be played at Nat Bailey Stadium, which is next to Queen Elizabeth Park, unless weather forces the team to play at the all-weather turf field on campus. For their next home series from March 15 17, the Thunderbirds will take on Concordia University in Oregon; this series will provide a better sense of what direction this team

5

softball >>

led by seven seniors, the UBc softball team looks poised to qualify for NAiA nationals in May.

joSH cUrrAN PHoTo/THE UBYSSEY

Softball swings for the fences C.J. Pentland Sports + Rec Editor

In only their fourth year as a team, the UBC softball team faces some truly discouraging obstacles: They don’t have a home field on campus and they don’t have a conference to play in. But that isn’t getting the Thunderbirds down.

In fact, this 2013 season is looking to be a successful one.

Led by a veteran core that has been around since the team was created, the T-Birds have gotten out to a good start in their season and are poised to grab one of the five spots at the NAIA regional tournament in May. They currently sit with a 10-11 record after traveling all around the West Coast and taking on some of the top NAIA teams from the area.

“We’re very optimistic. It looks like we should qualify to go to regionals,” said UBC head coach Phil Thom. “Our seven seniors have really stepped up and improved this year, and the weight program that our varsity

team is putting on has really helped out the team.”

Despite not being admitted to the NAIA Cascade conference, the T-Birds still have a chance to qualify for regionals in Victoria, Texas if they accumulate a good enough win-loss record. So far, UBC has already beat every team in the conference except for one, which bodes well for the remainder of their campaign.

Thom said his team possesses more of a power lineup this season, with Alana Westerhof and Cassandra Dypchey leading the way with 13 home runs between the two. It’s a drastic improvement from last year, when the entire team hit a combined total of four home runs. This upgrade can be traced back to the team’s strength and conditioning program. Despite playing in cold weather for many of their games, the entire team has been able to put up big run totals in several contests.

“We’ve hit 17 home runs and have only eight against, and last year was basically the other way around,” said Thom. “At this level, it’s really a power-hitting game.…

Every team seems to have two or three power hitters, but we’ve been able to keep that home run rate down this year, and we’ve actually been able to out-hit the other teams two to one.”

The team’s strong pitching has

also been a key factor for the favourable home run ratio. For the first time in the past four years, all four pitchers are healthy and uninjured, and all four are pitching significant innings and performing at a high level. Westerhof, Nicole Day, Jamie Randall and Leigh Della Siega have all seen significant innings on the mound and will be expected to keep sharing the workload.

Overall, the Thunderbirds are returning 14 of their 16 players from last year; seven of them are seniors in their fourth year.

While their graduation will leave holes next year, their experience should prove valuable, as they have been around the team since its formation. Lindsay McElroy will be the team’s captain this year, and Brittany Meyer and Molly Gosnell will be her assistants.

The Thunderbirds are coming off two wins against Simon Fraser University, making it the first time ever that UBC softball has defeated the Clan. Their next games will be in Arizona for the Tuscon Invitational Tournament, and then they will be coming back home to host 10 games from March 25 to 29. Since the field on UBC’s south campus is still not available, the games will be played at North Delta Park by North Delta Secondary School. U

outdoors >>

Wash away school worries in B.C. hot springs Justin Fleming Senior Lifestyle Writer

The witch hazel is blooming, the new turf is finally starting to smell like soccer practice, and according to Wiarton Willie, Canada’s oldest groundhog meteorologist, spring has indeed sprung. If you’re stricken with post-winter wanderlust, there are a few hidey holes just outside the city ready to be explored.

Just two hours north of Whistler, Skookumchuck and Sloquet hot springs are the perfect places to wax nostalgic about the waning winter and plot summer plans while enjoying a steamy, mineral-infused soak.

En route, you’ll pass through Pemberton, a perfect place to rejuvenate, fill up with gas and grab firewood for the trip into the wilderness. This is also where

the real adventure starts. From Pemberton, head east to the sleepy mountain town of Mt. Currie and continue on Highway 99 on Lillooet Lake Road, along the floodplain and past ranches, rodeo rings and homesteads. Drive with caution, as fugitive horses are not uncommon.

The right turn onto Lillooet River Road will steer you onto the last and most demanding leg of the journey. The views into Garibaldi Park and of Rampart and InSHUCK-ch Mountain are inspiring and Lillooet Lake’s turquoise water will scream for your attention, but focus on the dirt road, which narrows quickly and becomes peppered with potholes. It’s also not uncommon to come across logging trucks and boulders the size of mini-fridges, so take note of

the pullouts on the side of the road.

However, if you’re in the backseat, cross your fingers and enjoy the scenery.

There are various rec sites along the lake and river that make great photo-ops and pit stops, as well as polar swimming for the not-so-faint of heart. If you are into paddling, the Lillooet River system offers around 200 kilometres of rapids of varying difficulty.

The Skookumchuck hot springs and campground are waiting at kilometre 48. The campsites are laid out in a figure eight, and if you snag one of the many campsites on the Lillooet River itself, you can fall asleep to the sound of rushing water and wake up to the sun coming up over Fire Mountain.

The hot springs are at most

a two-minute walk from any of the campsites. The main pool, which is too hot to bathe in, feeds a series of motley tubs of varying size and shape that are connected by boardwalks and river stones.

Though the odd-looking tubs lack the natural charm of nearby Sloquet hot springs, the tin awnings and A-framed shelters give them a warm, rustic appeal. According to First Nations legend, the water from the hot springs has healing properties for those who bathe in and drink it.

For those who want a more unrefined, natural experience, drive another hour and a half up the logging road to the Sloquet hot springs. The Sloquet campground consists of 15 or so sites with picnic tables and fire rings. A short des-

cent down a well-marked trail leads to the springs, but you’ll be able to hear the crashing river and smell the mildly sulphurous aroma before you get there. When you finally reach the bottom, you will find yourself surrounded by massive greenery and abrupt cliff faces while you dip your toes in natural rock pools of steaming water.

While the trip to Skookumchuk and Sloquet hotsprings is not without its fair share of dirt roads and white knuckles, a chance to get out of the city and do some stargazing from Mother Nature’s jacuzzi is more than worth the effort. U

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Check out sweet photos of the area at ubyssey.ca.

6 | FEATURE |

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

International Women’s Day will be celebrated tomorrow, and I, for one, can’t wait. This day commemorates the strength, vision, generosity and progress of women everywhere; it is a chance to celebrate the polyphony of women’s voices in society. In today’s issue you’ll find inspiring stories of transcendental women in academia, as well as our feature article on UBC’s admirable move toward pay equity for female faculty. In the coming week, keep your eye out for different women from a wide range of disciplines that we’ll be profiling in the Our Campus feature on page two. In the meantime, enjoy the supplement!

—Elba Gomez Navas Guest editor

women in the academy

indiana joel illustration/the ubyssey

The ubyssey’s women’s supplement

Following UBC’s lead, other B.C. schools examine pay-equity—Sarah Bigam reports

O

n Feb. 28, all tenured and tenure-track faculty at UBC and UBC Okanagan who identified as female received a two per-cent pay increase, as well as a lump sum making the raise increase retroactive to July 2010.

This was big news across universities in Canada, many of which have been in negotiations for the past few years in order to resolve their own gender pay gaps.

At UBC, the salary increase was determined after discussing the results of two exhaustive studies conducted by the UBC Equity Office in 2007 and 2009. The studies determined that female faculty were paid on average of $3,000 less per year than their male counterparts.

This was the first time since the 1980s that pay inequity had been looked into at UBC, according to Rachel Kuske, senior advisor to the provost on female faculty.

Other universities are also looking into conducting new studies in the issue. Simon Fraser University did a study in the 1990s and is now trying to determine if a new one should be commissioned, while the Faculty Association at the University of Victoria has already conducted two independent studies that reflect similar results to those at UBC.

Building up to the salary increase Under the law, UBC cannot discriminate based on gender. So why has it taken over five years for

payments to be made?

“Things don’t happen quickly at the university, and often it’s because it requires a great deal of thought,” said Nancy Langton, president of the Faculty Association at UBC. After the results from the 2009 study, two joint committees were formed to further investigate the findings: the DATA Working Group analyzed the data and the SMART Working Group focused on finding ways to prevent and rectify the gender inequities. In January 2011, they released their list of recommendations for providing longterm solutions.

As a result of these reports, the Gender Pay Equity Recommendation Committee was formed, again with members from the Faculty Association and the provost, to recommend how to address the pay gap. The committee provided its recommendation in July 2012 to Langton; David Farrar, the provost; and Deborah Buszard, deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC Okanagan.

From that point on, it was smooth sailing.

“We sat and had a conversation and came to an agreement,” said Langton. “We maybe met for an hour.”

Kuske said that because the issue had been under consideration for years, faculties were able to build the money for the expected pay increases into their budget.

The lump sums and pay increases have cost the university a total of about $2 million this year.

A step in the right direction While an across-the-board increase closes the average pay gap, it may not correctly address salaries of specific faculties. Women in some departments had their salaries corrected two or more years ago, according to Gurdeep Parhar, associate dean for equity and professionalism. But those women had to be given the new increase as well as part of the deal.

“That’s a bit of a challenge, because that, in itself, creates inequity,” said Parhar.

Mary Chapman, an associate professor of English who has been working at UBC for 14 years, noted another problem.

“There are many women who have been professors at UBC for 25 or 30 years, and distributing the pay equity for three years doesn’t necessarily resolve the financial consequences of their historical experience,” said Chapman. “I think the pay situation right now looks good and equitable, yes. I think that problem has been solved.

“Do I think that discrimination, like misogyny or racism or gender discrimination, do I think that’s disappeared? No.” There were a couple of reasons that an across-the-board increase was chosen, instead of one determined by faculty or on an individual basis. The Gender Pay Equity Recommendation Committee looked at the methods of 17 other Canadian and U.S. universities that

I believe that the university has shown uncommon fairness.

You’ll find that view echoed across campus.

Dina Al-Kassim UBC associate professor of English

had distributed or considered distributing salary awards to female faculty based on pay inequity. Five of these used below-the-line corrections. This was most successful at the University of Western Ontario and the University of Wisconsin at Madison; however, both of these universities found that inequity re-emerged in follow-up studies.

Parhar said that the pay gap was not especially pronounced within individual faculties, but came to light when examining the university as a whole. He said that there were concerns that an individual case-by-case basis might result in not enough faculty members getting compensation, either because they would not ask for it or because it could be denied to them, resulting in a drawn-out process.

“We were wanting this to be something that was automatic and quick,” said Parhar. Given that the process still took over five years, this may have been a wise decision.

Overall, feedback on the pay increase has been positive, according to Dina Al-Kassim, associate professor in the department of English.

“I believe that the university

has shown uncommon fairness by implementing an across-the-board increase for women faculty. You’ll find that view echoed across campus,” Al-Kassim said.

Female faculty at other institutions agreed with this view as well.

“UBC’s initiative is definitely a step in the right direction. It was wonderful that the provost expressed such great interest in equity between male and female faculty,” said Professor Janni Aragon, chair of the Women’s Caucus at the University of Victoria.

“The most positive thing I’ve heard from women faculty members is that it’s not about what they’ve achieved for themselves, it’s that this correction will hopefully make it easier to recruit other female faculty members in the future,” said Parhar.

beyond pay There is more being done at UBC to address equity than just the pay increase. This is important not just in ensuring that pay equity stays consistent, but also in addressing potential hiring or promotion discrimination. Currently, women only account for 38 per cent of tenure-track faculty, and only 21 per cent of full professors (the highest level of professor).

Additional measures are also important when considering what happened at the University of Manitoba, the only university so far to enact an across-theboard salary increase. This was recommended along with other

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

Women’s history prof to continue work after UBC

women in the lab

Renowned UBC scientist talks gender bias in academia

Kayi Wong Contributor alexandra downing PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

UBC science professor Rosie Redfield said she often attends conferences dominated by men.

R

osie Redfield is one of the most visible scientists on campus — and not just because of her ever-changing hair colour (it’s pink right now).

Redfield’s endeavours reach far beyond the peninsula of Point Grey; her research has created quite a stir in the scientific community at large.

Nature Publishing Group, one of the behemoths of the science publishing world, ranked her as one of 2011’s top 10 newsmakers and dubbed her the “Critical Enquirer” for her efforts to replicate 2010 research by a NASA-led research consortium.

Redfield runs a blog about her research projects called RRResearch. True to its tagline — “Not your typical science blog” — it allows Redfield to connect with a larger community and map her progress for the general public.

policy changes to prevent further inequity; however, the additional policies were never enacted and a follow-up study found that nearly the same degree of inequity has reemerged since the increase.

The SMART Working Group recommended five major categories of action: ensuring there is no gender bias in starting salaries; reducing systemic barriers and unconscious bias through equity training for those groups involved in hiring and promotion; increasing opportunities for mentoring, especially for assistant and associate professors; initiating working climate studies across faculties to identify areas of possible inequity; and monitoring through equity audits to ensure accountability and consistency.

“If they follow the guidelines, I think that will take them a very long way to ensuring that this doesn’t happen again,” said Langton.

Kuske said that some of these are already being implemented.

Hiring salaries will be tracked with faculty relations and the department, and benchmark examples of starting salaries in different fields will be made publicly available. This is important because UBC has no predetermined salary grade for faculty positions; new professors must bargain with a hiring committee to determine starting pay, but current salaries have not been accessible as a starting point for negotiations.

Parhar also said that the work environment will be examined to ensure that no sexist remarks or cultural discrimination is taking place.

Potential promotion discrimination will be investigated as well.

“What we need to do is figure

| FEATURE | 7

Redfield is also participating in a pilot program to teach a 10week course entitled “Useful Genetics” through Coursera, a massive open online course site that UBC recently joined.

While she has achieved great success in her career, Redfield said that she had to overcome sexism to get where she is today.

Discrimination “is everywhere, but it’s not events — it’s a hundred little things every day,” she said.

“Twenty-five years ago in grad school, trying to teach myself genetics from textbooks, I came across a genetics textbook where there were pictures of women.… And until that point I hadn’t consciously noticed that all the pictures of people in the other textbooks were all pictures of men.”

Many of the obvious problems in the field have been

out what is not allowing them to be promoted,” said Parhar.

“Is it responsibilities — personal responsibilities such as having families and raising kids — or is it something else, is there another systemic bias we have to address?”

Equity training is already being done in orientations with hiring committees at all levels, from assistant professor to dean, to try to prevent unconscious discrimination. Parhar said that often when there is a predominance of men applying for a position, hiring committees feel that they should choose a male candidate. He believes that this should be addressed in the future by ensuring that hiring committees “have the time and the energy [and] the skills to be looking wider to get those really strong female candidates into the applicant pool.”

Kuske said that pay inequity was addressed for other areas of university staff about 10 years ago, and is not believed to have drifted since then.

Non-tenure-track faculty were not included in the payout, because, according to Langton, a Faculty Association review of salaries of librarians found no evidence of pay inequity and a study of the salaries of 12-month lecturers was inconclusive. The Status of Women Committee and the Sessional Faculty Committee are currently planning to look at the salaries of sessional workers to determine if there is gender-based pay inequity there.

Taking the lead As evidenced by the 17 other universities who have also addressed pay inequity, UBC is not alone in tackling the issue. Langton said

rectified, Redfield said, but “the unconscious biases are there as they always were and we’re just now starting to notice them because we’ve gotten rid of the explicit barriers.”

Redfield described the two primary steps that would help to rectify sexism in the field: convincing people that they may hold subconscious biases and then correcting those biases.

She praised UBC’s efforts to increase awareness of intrinsic bias in processes such as hiring committees.

“I am proud of UBC for taking the steps that could be taken, but I don’t see an easy solution in general for where women are doing things in a context that is largely viewed as male.”

At research conferences, seminars and even in classes, Redfield said that men ask most

that the Faculty Association has been approached by the University of Victoria and University of Northern British Columbia, who are both in the process of looking at pay equity.

Richard Pickard, an English professor and Faculty Association member at the University of Victoria, wrote in a blog post, “We’re all very pleased for UBC’s female faculty, but ‘Why not us?’ has been a common refrain.”

A general meeting of the UVic Faculty Association on Feb. 14 included some discussion of gender pay inequity. “UBC won’t be the only B.C. university taking steps (eventually) to address the wage gap between male and female members of its faculty association,” wrote Pickard.

Glen Chapman, president of the Faculty Association at Simon Fraser University, said his university has started discussions on an equity pay increase. However, as some adjustments were already made in the late 90s, this one will focus not just on gender, but equity in general, including ethnic groups.

“Definitely the two clear issues are that women are attracted in larger numbers to those faculties where they are being under-represented. And the second thing is to make certain that they start on equal footing,” Chapman said. As salary raises are often based on per cent, it is important to ensure equity at the moment of hiring, to prevent perpetuating inequity over the years.

However, Chapman said that in recent years, more women have been hired and typically have started at higher salaries than women who were hired years ago; this will have to be considered as well.

of the questions. “It sends a powerfully discouraging message to women in the audience that only men ask questions, put forward ideas and engage in the scientific conversation.”

At research conferences, this is exacerbated by the fact that the male-to-female ratio is heavily skewed.

“It’s very discouraging to go to a conference and see one woman out of 30 speakers.”

Redfield said she believes communication and discourse are key to ameliorating this imbalance.

“If we can get people thinking about [bias], in any kind of academic endeavour, having intrinsic discouragement towards girls or women,” Redfield said, “we can help them overcome that unfair disadvantage.” U —Tagh Sira Contributor

We’re all very pleased for UBC’s female faculty, but ‘Why not us?’ has been a common refrain Richard Pickard University of Victoria English professor, advocating for pay equity at UVic

He added that women tend to suffer from discrimination, both conscious or unintended, when they take such action as maternity leave.

At the moment, SFU has not put together a committee to investigate inequity, although they are considering creating one.

Another issue Chapman discussed was that pensions are often not taken into account for wage increases. SFU has a defined contribution pension plan, where a certain percentage of one’s salary is contributed to one’s pension per year. Thus, the longer there has been pay inequity, the larger the inequity in the pension as well.

“So if we’re talking 20 years, we could be talking quite a bit of money,” Chapman said.

Time has yet to tell if the pay equity measures taken at UBC and other universities will stick, but what can be concluded is that it’s a good step forward.

“I think the important thing to recognize here is that pay inequity exists for women in various places in society and the university is a microcosm of that,” said Parhar.

“Is the correction absolutely perfect? No. But not doing something was more of a problem, and more unjust.” U —With files from Elba Gomez Navas

While most university students are still figuring out their future career paths, Veronica Strong-Boag knew at age six that she wanted to be a historian.

After completing her Ph.D. in her mid-20s, Strong-Boag became a professor, founded the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at UBC and won the John Macdonald Prize for the best book in Canadian history with The New Day Recalled: The Lives of Women in Canada between Wars . Last summer, she was awarded the J.B. Tyrell Historical Medal for outstanding work in the history of Canada. Strong-Boag might be retiring this summer, but not without a project on hand: WomenSuffrage.org.

“I am conscious that the web is the place to be in terms of having larger discussions about democracy and justice," she said. "The website is part of a larger effort to ensure people understand the issue we deal with globally and nationally."

For the last two years, StrongBoag and her team of graduate research assistants have been working on the website.

“With our research, we try to make clear connections between women suffrage and the larger pro-democratic politics, and also between what’s happening in Canada and what’s happening in the world," said Strong-Boag.

In addition to a timeline describing the evolution of suffragist movements dating back to the 19th century, the website is periodically updated with posts written by Strong-Boag and her team. Topics have included the representation of women and women’s issues in Canada’s western provinces, the politics of rape, the Idle No More movement and International Women’s Day. “I think history has lots to tell us about reflection. Not necessarily the right place to go, but we are reminded of the need to interrogate our own motives," she said.

“Most people don’t think historically because we’re living in the moment. But IWD [International Women's Day] forces everyone to think about what happened in 1930, or 1908, why has it got better or why ... some things remain the same. IWD is shaped by larger politics in which women have a role to play in the creation of a larger democracy. Women as a group did not have suffrage in Quebec provincially until 1940. The demand for IWD is to recognize that women have been struggling for emancipation for 200 years.”

Though she is distressed by the persistence of gendered violence globally, Strong-Boag is hopeful.

"In my generation, I don’t think I ... heard of the term ‘feminist’ until I was in my 20s. People of this generation have a vocabulary to work with. They can work with projects in a more articulate way than we ever could.” U <em>

</em>

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

EDiTor ANNA ZORIA

8

film >>

Reeling in the treasure

UBC Film Society inherits western Canada’s largest Bollywood film collection Justin Fleming Senior Lifestyle Writer

D

on’t remember the last time someone gave you a movie collection? Well, neither did the UBC Film Society, until they recently received a unique and unexpected donation: the largest 35mm Bollywood film collection in western Canada.

Many of the films have yet to be catalogued, but the collection is not without its blockbusters, such as Dhoom 2 , Kaminey , Heroes and Apne.

The films were donated by Mirko Mladenovic on behalf of the Otis Cinema Classics Collection, a non-profit collection founded in 2001 by film historian Dimitrios Otis. Otis Cinema Classics’ mandate is to locate caches of film in the community that are in danger of being disposed of due to cinema closure — a very real threat, considering the past year alone has marked the closures of Vancouver’s Ridge Cinema, Denman Cinemas and Granville 7 Cinema.

Both Mladenovic and Otis are longtime fans of Bollywood and spent much of their time watching films at the Raja Cinema (now the Collingwood Cinema) near Kingsway and Joyce Street.

“Growing up in Vancouver, I was always exposed to Indian films,” said Mladenovic.

Upon hearing the news of the Raja Theatre’s closure, Mladenovic contacted the new owner, only to find out that two thirds of the films had already been thrown out.

Mladenovic and Otis were able to save the remainder of the films, but with over 1,000 films already filling up their storage units, they needed to find a new home for the rescued reels. Enter UBC’s Norm Theatre: a non-profit movie theatre that’s home to one of the only 35mm projectors still used for screenings in the city.

For Mladenovic, the Norm was a clear winner. For operations manager Alex Westhelle and the others at the UBC Film Society, the donation was a dream come true.

The collection could be just what the struggling Norm Theatre needs to rekindle its dwindling attendance.

“It used to be that films sold themselves,” said Westhelle. “New digital technologies, film piracy, Netflix — people just don’t go out to see movies like they used to.”

In recent years, the Norm has become primarily a second-run the<em>

</em>

UBc film Society member Alex Westhelle displays a copy of Dhoom.

kAi jAcoBSoN PHoTo/THE UBYSSEY

<em>

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atre, playing it safe by showing successful Hollywood blockbusters that are not currently playing elsewhere.

“In general, we don’t really show as many foreign films as we’d like to here,” said Westhelle.

Recently, Westhelle’s spirits were buoyed by the success of the Norm’s recent screening of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry , a documentary about a renowned Chinese artist and activist. It was one of the most well-attended screenings this year, and drew a large audience of art history students and students of Chinese descent.

The Film Society hopes to use the donated Bollywood films to attract a new Indo-Canadian audience.

“I think that these films will do especially well with the large Indo-Canadian community here, because these films already have a reputation of doing really well in India and in the community,” said Westhelle.

The standard format for Hollywood cinema was 35mm from the early 1930s until just several years ago, when digital cinema gained popularity. Unlike 35mm, digital cinema does not have to be processed. Also, rather than making thousands of copies of film from a master copy and sending them around the world, digital cinema can be copied and sent with the click of a mouse.

But the pictorial quality of 35mm is still superior to digital quality, explained Ernest Mathijs, associate professor of film studies at UBC. The hues and tints of reds and golds on 35mm film are among the best colour renditions of any technology.

Some famed Hollywood directors, such as Christopher Nolan, still prefer 35mm over digital film for this reason.

“35mm gives a different experience — some would say a fundamentally different experience — of the film,” said Mathijs.

For Mathijs, the future of 35mm lies in the margins of mainstream cinema; most likely, he predicts, it will be reserved for prestige projects by famous directors.

“35mm is like the classical oil painting for visual arts,” said Mathijs. “It’s a model standard that has been around for a long time and is associated with glorious art.”

At the UBC Film Society, the donation of 35mm films is far from unwelcome. This traditional medium may be just what the Norm needs to reel in fresh audiences. U <em>

</em>

35mm versus digital How do these two film mediums stack up?

35MM

DIGITAL

Wide range of colour: Tints of reds and golds on 35mm film are among the best colour renditions of any technology.

Cheap: Digital filming has an essentially limitless storage capacity, while shooting in 35mm requires the purchase expensive film reels.

Traditional: 35mm has been the dominant filmmaking medium for over 100 years.

Modern: The majority of today’s theatres are switching to digital projection.

Visually distinct: 35mm clarity is still superior to digital.

Easily shared: Digital footage does not have to be processed; it can be copied and sent electronically.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

| Culture | 9

animation >>

Student produces blockbuster

Luke Caroll on Escape From Planet Earth, indie filmmaking and dreaming big

Reyhana Heatherington Contributor

M

ost grad students stress about paper deadlines and cram sessions. Luke Carroll, a UBC master’s student in film production, faces notably higher stakes.

He is the producer of Escape From Planet Earth , the recently released animated film boasting the voices of stars such as Jessica Alba, William Shatner and Ricky Gervais.

Shouldering the responsibility for a $40 million film is a daunting task, but for Carroll, it’s well-earned. He is a veteran of the industry; his first foray into film production was in London over 20 years ago, while he was a student at Durham University. <em>

</em>

Do the thing that scares you a little.

Because then it will be probably the most interesting.

Luke Caroll Producer of Escape From Planet Earth

“I spent the university holidays working in the industry as just a production assistant, a lackey.

And that was my first taste of that world,” he said.

After graduating, he became a production coordinator on MTV’s The Real World: London before moving to Vancouver and studying at Vancouver Film School. After<em>

</em>

wards, he made several short films, and eventually got the chance to produce an animated film for the company now called Rainmaker Entertainment.

Compared to most other animated films, which typically cost over $100 million to make, Carroll and his 150-person crew were working with a relatively small budget for Escape From Planet Earth . His thesis film for UBC, on the other hand, was made with $2,000 and a three-person crew at a Gastown studio.

After spending three years answering to studio executives, Carroll said he thrived on the autonomy of independently filming his thesis.

“It’s very freeing when you don’t have to answer to anybody else.

When you just get to do what you feel is right, it’s just a very liberating experience.”

His thesis film is a 20-minute short, centred on a young boy’s struggle to define love for a class assignment, while dealing with a turbulent home life. Carroll is set to graduate in May, seven years after entering the film production graduate program at UBC. Sharon McGowan, UBC professor and film producer, said in an email that Carroll’s strengths were apparent back in 1990, when she received a letter from him asking for advice on pursuing film in Vancouver.

“As an independent producer, I had been getting lots of these kinds of letters and didn’t get back to all of them, but there was something about Luke’s that made me reply,” <em>

</em>

DIVE IN

Run for a position on next year’s editorial board.

More info at Ubyssey.ca/about

Luke Caroll has gone from production assistant to UBC student to film producer during his time in the industry

she said.

McGowan later learned her reply was the only one Carroll received from the many notes he sent out, and it influenced his decision to move to Vancouver. She said it speaks to his determination and eventual success.

“He plans a long time in advance, doesn’t need a lot of en-

couragement to pursue his goals — one letter out of so many requests was enough. [He] is immensely personable, highly intelligent and of course, talented.”

Today Carroll is enjoying time with his family, finalizing his thesis film and working on a project for toy company Mattel from his home on Hornby Island.

Photo courtesy Matthew Ward

He has sound advice for students struggling with the task of putting together a successful project.

“There’s that saying, you know: ‘Scare yourself at least once a day.’

And I think the thesis is a good example of that. Do the thing that scares you a little. Because then it will be probably the most interesting.” U

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

STUDENT VoicE. coMMUNiTY rEAcH.

10

To the B.C. liberals: let’s get this over with

LAST WORDS

gEoff liSTEr filE PHoTo/THE UBYSSEY

EDITOR S NOTEBOOK

by Andrew Bates

kiM PriNglE illUSTrATioN/THE UBYSSEY

10:34 a.m., the day after Pit Night, and the last thing in the world Max chen needed was a cold shower.

koerner’s ForeVer! Like many new politicians, incoming Graduate Student Society (GSS) president Chris Roach says he’s eager to hear what students think about the direction of the society.

Okay, we’re students. Undergrads, granted, but we can tell you what we want: Koerner’s.

Unequivocally. Without a doubt.

No quarter asked or given.

Koerner’s .

For those of you who don’t remember, the GSS used to run a swell little bar in the north of campus. It had a great patio, shuffleboard, cheap beer and an open mic night that packed the house. Koerner’s was the GSS’s raison d’être, and things were good.

And then, The Koerner’s Saga.

An 18-year-old student got too drunk and fell off a balcony in 2010. Koerner’s staff had been playing fast and loose with ID checks, so UBC seized the GSS’s liquor licence. Koerner’s tried to carry on with no booze and, well, that didn’t work. Then the GSS and bar’s unionized workers got into a spat over a new collective agreement, and it seemed like Koerner’s was doomed.

This past year, however, things have started to look up.

The GSS and the union have settled, and a hunt for a new thirdparty manager for the bar bore fruit. Still, that contract with the management company is floating in the ether somewhere, and there’s talk of renovating the space. We’re no closer to having a date for reopening.

So, Mr. Roach, please open the bar. We can talk about all the other things the GSS does, but Koerner’s has been the organization’s heart and soul.

So that’s it. That’s all you need to do. Bring back the bar. <em>

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<em>

delay spoils key ingredient in suB BreWery proJect The prospect of a new SUB brewery was dreamed into

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existence by some AMS executives who cared very, very deeply about it.

They saw it as more than just a (potentially) money-making venture for the AMS. It was a stab against the prevailing no-fun-campus attitude that restricted parties and beer gardens and severely limited the number of campus bars. It was a way to involve students in Vancouver’s burgeoning craft beer culture. It was the spiritual heir of the (David Suzuki championed) pub-in movement that got the Pit built in the first place. It was something a student group had never done before, and that was reason enough to make it worth doing.

A student-run brewery needs more than barley, hops and water to run. It needs students who are passionate about the project.

RE: the apparent death of the SUB brewery

But the AMS executive team changes every year. And this year’s executives weren’t interested in championing an ambitious — or maybe foolhardy — project designed to give UBC students cheaper beer.

The argument over whether to build or scrap the brewery project was reduced to a question of profit versus loss. Once the intangible coolness of the venture was out of the equation, the argument to continue got a lot weaker.

The AMS was going to decide on keeping or killing the project in December, but then they postponed the decision to January.

And then they kept postponing it. Now they’ve hatched a plan to move the project to the UBC Farm instead, far away from the SUB. By moving the project, the committee charged with the brewery’s future decided against a new SUB brewery without weathering the full squall of an

AMS Council debate about it.

So by delaying , they’ve decided against a new SUB brewery without actually having to decide. Which is really too bad, because there are still a lot of students who are passionate about the project, and they wanted to have an impassioned debate about it.

Sure, the farm grows some lovely hops. But a student-run brewery needs more than barley, hops and water to run. It needs a fourth ingredient: students who are care about the project.

And if nobody in charge cares, the only thing they’ll wind up brewing is discontent.

We deserVe a plan, at least We’ve complained a lot about high turnover in the Ministry of Advanced Education. The office has been a revolving door, with five separate MLAs on the file since 2009.

Now, the minister in charge has been forced to step aside due to fallout from the recent “ethnic votes” scandal. John Yap, who is also minister of state for multiculturalism, announced Monday that he would take responsibility for the leaked “quick wins” memo and step aside.

So now, the minister formerly in charge of seniors’ issues is stepping in to bring the post-secondary file into this spring’s election. Oh, the irony.

When we spoke with Ralph Sultan on Tuesday, it was clear that he was probably still in the process of moving offices.

We don’t begrudge Sultan the position. We understand the situation the government is in, and what its attitude has been towards pouring more money into post-secondary education.

We just wonder what it would be like to have somebody in Victoria with, you know, an actual plan for universities. Given the fact that universities are in a state of flux — scrambling for cash, competing internationally, fighting with trade schools for money — we think we deserve at least that much. U

Can the B.C. Liberal Party really salvage anything out of the next 10 weeks?

The party is currently reeling from the leak of an ethnic outreach plan. The controversial memo identified apologizing for historical atrocities as “quick wins” at the ballot box, and was probably crafted by taxpayer-funded government staffers instead of political party employees.

On Tuesday, the fact that the 2013 budget passed was hailed as a sign of a united caucus only because there wasn’t open revolt and the government didn’t fall.

The 2013 election has been looming over the Liberals ever since the beginning of Premier Christy Clark’s term, but it’s now smothering the party. To save themselves, they have to drop the writ and call a snap election.

There can be no positive results from waiting any longer.

Any positive news like funding announcements or policy changes will be criticized — correctly — as stealth campaigning and more “quick wins.”

If there are any long-term decisions made, expect to see more people trot out this quote, unearthed last week by Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer,

from then-opposition Liberal leader Gordon Campbell in the dying days of the NDP government before the 2001 election: “Let me be clear: This government has no mandate to govern.

This government is illegitimate in the eyes of the public today. They have no moral right to govern.

This government has no mandate to pass legislation, no mandate to make appointments, no mandate to pass a budget.”

There can only be more scandal, more discord and more speculation. This memo was kicking around for a full year before it was unearthed. The remaining 10 weeks are research time for the opposition parties to come up with more of those headlines.

There are democratic wins to be had, as well; calling an election before the end of April would mean the first provincial election in over 20 years to be held when university students are on campus. Although it would contravene the fixed election law passed in 2001, that law was always just a crutch for a reeling government to use in exactly this situation. But why would you choose to limp on for an extra two months?

If they drop the writ and announce some platform goals, the B.C. Liberals have a chance to take over the news cycle. Something, at least, has to be done if they don’t want to spend the next 10 weeks being pummelled in public every single day. U

When tenants have no protection EDITOR S NOTEBOOK by laura rodgers

A bunch of students in Totem Park’s Nootka House are pretty unhappy, because there are specks of epoxy sealant getting into their drinking water.

UBC Housing says the sealant is perfectly safe, but this hasn’t satisfied residents.

Many of them don’t feel comfortable drinking the epoxy-riddled water, and they want financial compensation from UBC Housing to make up for the hassle of getting water elsewhere.

And it’ll be up to the university, completely, whether or not they get anything.

Why? Because students living in UBC residences have approximately zero legal protections as tenants. Since 2003, university housing has been exempt from any provincial laws governing landlord tenant relationships.

This means UBC is able to enforce all sorts of restrictions on students that other landlords can’t. They can restrict your

guests. They can enter your residence without giving you notice.

And if they want to kick you out, you have a lot less recourse than a regular tenant would.

What about maintenance, amenities and water quality?

UBC’s only commitments to residents are laid out in the university-penned residence contracts that residents sign each year. Most of that contract deals with rules students have to follow if they live in residence, and it only gives scant mention to any obligations UBC has as a landlord.

So these students might get some sort of apology from the university, but that’ll only happen if UBC damn well feels like it. Their request for money?

We’re not holding our breath.

Like most other universities across Canada and the U.S., UBC has long shed its in loco parentis behaviour and now treats students as adults across all departments — except one. Letting universities hold all the cards on housing agreements takes some fundamental rights away from students, pure and simple. U <em>

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THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013 |

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