Nov. 22, 2010

Cum n’ Hair: A collaborative piece since 1918

animal testing:

Burlesque

the debate between ubc researchers and animal rights

and its importance

activists

in the performing

continues.

arts scene. page 7

page 8

the ubyssey

NOVEMBER 22, 2010 • volume 92, number xxii • room 24, student union building • published monday and thursday • feedback@ubyssey.ca

your dollars to gaza?

$700 donation to Gaza Flotilla by ubc club on hold after AMS freezes transaction. page 3

* Clock tower not included

2 / u b y s s e y. c a / e v e n t s / 2 0 1 0 . 11 . 2 2 november 22, 2010 volume xcii, no xxii editorial coordinating editor

Justin McElroy : coordinating@ubyssey.ca

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Anna Zoria : associate.culture@ubyssey.ca

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contributors Kalyeena Makortoff Micki Cowan Yara De Jong Marie Vondracek Fabrizio Stendaro Charles Depman David Elop David Marino Jon Chiang Samantha Bullis Philip Edgecumbe Bijan Ahmadian

Front cover illustration by Indiana Joel 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 herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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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Please include your phone number, student number and signature (not for publication) as well as your year and faculty with all submissions.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. “Perspectives” are opinion pieces over 300 words but under 750 words and are run according to space. “Freestyles” are opinion pieces written by Ubyssey staff members. Priority will be given to letters and perspectives over freestyles unless the latter is time sensitive. Opinion pieces will not be run until the identity of the writer has been verified. The Ubyssey reserves the right to edit submissions 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.

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us create this baby! Learn about layout and editing. Expect to be fed. • Every Sunday and Wednesday, 2pm.

multiversity galleries curator tours • Learn about a different as-

pect of the Multiversity Galleries from a different curator every week.

From the local to the global and the mundane to the arcane, let the experts introduce you to the objects that intrigue them most. Along the way, you’ll gain fresh perspectives related to collecting, consulting, researching, interpreting and exhibiting in the Museum. • Tuesdays 1–2pm, Museum of Anthropology, $14/12 included with admission, free with UBC student ID.

monday, nov. 22 The AMS Annual Gift Fair • One-

stop shopping for great gifts and decorations from products imported around the world to locally handcrafted items. There will be new vendors each week. • Nov. 22–Dec. 3, 10:30am–5:30pm, SUB Main Concourse.

Make ART for AIDS + Pose-itively HIV • This event is part of the

World AIDS Week coalition to help UBC students gain awareness and speak out for HIV/AIDS. Help make art for AIDS by completing a picture or photo. Canvases, art supplies and camera supplied. Includes free hot cocoa, cupcakes and condoms. • 11am–2pm, SUB Entrances and MASS lounge in Buchanan D.

tuesday, nov. 23 night of a thousand dinners (n1kd) • As one of IRSA’s premier

events and the largest student-organized fundraiser for land mine awareness, you will not want to miss this! Features a silent auction, performance by the Corpus Christi College Chamber Choir, a mouth-watering three-course dinner and a stunning art installation

by V. Tony Hauser. • 6:30–9:30pm, 3250 Commercial Drive, $40 students, $80 non-students, tickets available online at irsa.rezgo.com or in SUB 30-G.

drink of your choice, a ticket in the raffle for a 19” flatscreen TV and your chance to ride the bull.

Call (604) 328-0913 or e-mail janice.lee@ubc.ca for tickets.

wednesday, nov. 24

global leadership: perspectives of a former refugee • Ve-

ubc film society: the expendables • The UBC Film Society will be

showing The Expendables, starring Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and pretty much every action hero of the last 30 years. A team of mercenaries heads to South America on a mission to overthrow a dictator. • 9–11pm, Norm Theatre, SUB, $2.50 members, $5 non-members.

thursday, nov. 25 link dance: experiments (excerpt) • Dance collides with sci-

ence in Experiments, Gail Lotenberg’s exciting new work for her company LINK Dance. A collaboration with four ecologists, specialists in the study of movement and behaviour. The work combines fluent dancing with sound, light and video, to investigate how two separate disciplines embrace logic, experimentation and creativity. • 12pm, Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, $10 adults, $8 students.

lace up for kids • Come lace up

and make a difference in the lives of children living with a rare disease. Lace Up for Kids is UBC REC’s student-driven charity event that is a great opportunity for individuals or teams to give back. All proceeds will go towards the BC Children’s Hospital Rare Disease Foundation Fund to support life-saving microgrant research. • 6pm–2am, Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, register by Nov. 18.

ubc robson square rodeo • Pull

on your cowboy boots, iron your best plaid shirt and shout “yeehaaaaaww” when you head to The Bourbon Country Bar, to help find the best bull rider in town while raising awareness and money for United Way. Feel free to lasso some of your friends and family and bring them along.

Saddle up and hold on tight as you watch some of the wildest bullriders in town tame the most notorious bull of Vancouver. • 5–7pm, The Bourbon Country Bar, 50 West Cordova Street, $15 includes buffet dinner, one

ronica Fynn, former WUSC student and one of the founders of the Africa Awareness Initiative, will speak at UBC on November 25. There will be a dynamic discussion on the Farchana Manifesto, a document from the women of the Farchana refugee camp in Darfur, Sudan demanding equal rights for women. Light refreshments provided. • 5–7pm, Liu Institute for Global Issues, free.

friday, nov. 26 aus first-year commitee presents: the no pants dance • The

AUS First Year Committee presents the No Pants Dance— yes, you read that right. Give your jeans a vacation in the laundry heap and come all dressed down! Featuring a photo booth and the Pants Off Dance Off, fun and surprises (possibly in the form of Spiderman boxers) are guaranteed for this exciting night. • 9pm-12am, Mass Buchanan D, $10, $12 at the door, $1 for coat check, tickets available at the Totem Park and Place Vanier residence commons and the bus loop by REC Centre.

jade in the coal • In 1900, the

hardships of Chinese coal-miners in Cumberland, BC are relieved by a Cantonese opera troupe. As the actors rehearse, the mine’s ghosts stir and reveal a terrible secret from the past. Written by Governor General’s Award-winning writer Paul Yee, with original music performed live by a six-piece Cantonese opera ensemble. • 7:30–9:30pm, Freddy Wood Theatre, $102/78/48 package tickets, $22/15/10 single tickets, e-mail theatre@ interchange@ubc.ca or call at (604) 822-2678 for more information.

ubc eli: international night •

Are you ready for a night of cultural immersion, music, performance and a riotous dance party? Then join us for the English Language Institute’s International Night. There will be cultural displays, an international food fair, performances and demonstrations of unique talents. To

top it all off, a DJ will spin tunes to guarantee groovy moves on the dance floor. • 7–11:30pm, SUB Ballroom, $3 (includes small tasters of international cuisine), bring two pieces of ID to purchase alcoholic beverages. rubber soul: rock for aids concert • Rubber Soul is set to rock

out for the first time in Vancouver. Rubber Soul first began in 2008 in the Hongdae district of South Korea. Expats living in Korea teamed up with local Koreans to promote awareness of HIV and raise money for Little Travellers and Grassroots Uganda. All proceeds from their concert will go towards the fight against HIV/AIDS. • 8pm–1am, The Pit and The Gallery, $12 at The Outpost, $15 at the door.

saturday, nov. 27 wreath-making course • Guid-

ed by the talented and experienced experts Moya Drummond and Judy Newton, you will learn tips and techniques for making your very own natural holiday creation. Participants will leave with their own beautiful and handmade wreath to decorate their door or to give to a friend. You will be outdoors for brief periods of time, so please dress appropriately. Please bring your own pair of secateurs and gardening gloves. • 9am–12pm, $60 public, $55 garden members and students, reservation required, e-mail botg@ interchange.ubc.ca to book.

sunday, nov. 28 opera teas on the stage • UBC

Opera Ensemble presents their newest series, Opera Teas on the Stage, with shortened versions of operas in a cabaret setting on the stage of their new theatre. • 2–4pm, UBC Old Auditorium, 6344 Memorial Rd, $20 adults, $15 students and seniors, reservations required, call (604) 822-6725 to reserve.

ubc film society: a woman, a gun and a noodle shop • The UBC

Film Society will be showing A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop by director Zhang Yimou.

The owner of a Chinese noodle shop’s scheme to murder his adulterous wife and her lover goes awry. • 7–9pm, Norm Theatre, $2.50 members, $5 non-members.

Give us your sexy events. events@ubyssey.ca

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2 010 .11 . 2 2 / u by s s e y. c a / n e w s / 3

News

editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca associate SALLY CRAMPTON » associate.news@ubyssey.ca

On hold: AMS freezes $700 donation to Gaza flotilla from student club Social Justice Centre argues they are free to donate grant money to groups without council’s approval Kalyeena Makortoff kmakortoff@ubyssey.ca A $700 donation to an aid flotilla to Gaza by the Social Justice Centre (SJC) has been suspended

by AMS executives after receiving complaints from students.

Last week, the SJC, an AMS resource group, approved the grant to the UBC club Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) to help fund the Canadian humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, which will sail in spring 2011. However, after student complaints made to the AMS executive, the money transfer from the SJC to SPHR was frozen, with intention of bringing the issue in front of AMS council for review on December 1.

AMS President Bijan Ahmadian said that the initial complaint came from VP Finance Elin Tayyar, who felt uncomfortable signing off on the transaction without it being brought to council.

Executives also began receiving student inquiries and complaints about the SJC’s funding, as well as petitions from UBC’s Israeli Awareness Club (IAC).

Ahmadian said that complaints were being made both in opposition to the resource group’s support of Gaza and Palestine, as well as against AMS funds leaving student hands to be shipped overseas.

“A number of students said, ‘I don’t like my student money being shipped out of the country like this.’”

However, SJC treasurer Arielle Friedman said that the $700 grant transfer to SPHR comes from $2250 set for grants, from their overall budget of nearly $10,000.

“A lot of groups at UBC routinely donate to outside causes, and other resource groups do as well. That’s not a reasonable case at this point,” Friedman said.

“You can argue that we consider it a social justice issue, and the issue in Gaza as a violation of human rights. So we think it is well within our mandate to donate. And we decided [to approve the grant] by consensus at our meeting.”

Friedman said AMS interference in the SJC budget violates AMS code in terms of resource group autonomy. “[AMS code] says that it’s the Resource Group Allocation Committee (RGAC) that sees over the SJC budget, not AMS council,” said Friedman. “In April they can vote on the entire budget for the resource groups and a breakdown of what part of budget goes to each group. They have no control over individual resource group budgets.”

NEWS BRIEFS perrin launches campaign to combat human trafficking

A UBC law professor has been in meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper after launching a campaign to combat the problem of human trafficking in Canada. Professor Benjamin Perrin met earlier this month to discuss his campaign with MP Joy Smith and the Minister of Justice, in order to construct a national action plan to combat the problem, which he feels should be a priority for the federal government.

The main goals of the campaign are to prosecute, protect and prevent crime from rising.

Perrin’s campaign, which was national, held events with a variety of local organizations in seven cities across the country.

Corporations likely to have criminal guilt, UBC prof says

Photograph of the Rachel Corrie, a ship owned by the Free Gaza movement. courtesy of israeli ministry of foreign affairs

Ahmadian claimed that the freezing of the transfer does not violate code, and that AMS council still has jurisdiction to review the transaction.

“There was some pushbacksaying you are interfering in resource groups. And we’re saying, well, it does look like we’re kind of interfering by putting this on hold. But if we were to actually allow the transaction and sign off on it and the money was gone, then it would be moot for the council to have any discussion on it. [Then] we’re essentially taking council’s power away, ahead of council’s discussion.

“Specifically, I asked two questions to the SJC. This event, this boat to Gaza, how much is the budget for it, if they didn’t receive the money for it would it cause financial hardship? And when is it happening? The budget for the boat is $300,000 so it’s not like the boat won’t sail if they don’t get the money in two weeks. And the boat won’t sail until next spring anyway.

So they can wait an extra couple of weeks for council to have this discussion.”

However, Friedman maintained that it is not within AMS code to freeze any resource group transaction without a two thirds majority approval from council.

“If they want to have a discussion about it, it shouldn’t be through a violation of codes,” he said. “If they want to bring it up, do it through the RGAC and talk about our funding.”

An article written by SPHR president Omar Shaban and posted in the online publication Canadian Charger suggested that AMS involvement and obstruction of the funding is part

of a larger problem of bullying Palestinian students on campus.

Last Wednesday Ahmadian called a meeting between members of the AMS executive, the SJC, SPHR and the IAC to discuss the complaints and find out “what exactly was going on.”

Shaban’s article said t hat there was confusion: many IAC members thought that the money was going to directly fund a speaking tour by George Galloway, a controversial advocate of Palestinian issues. Ahmadian said he was also receiving emails that claimed the SJC was giving $10,000 of student money to the Canadian flotilla to Gaza.

“The complainants thought that this would be something of ours t hat t hey can attack very easily, [but] the money is going for humanitarian relief for besieged people.

“It was insulting to the SJC as a club that appreciates its autonomy and was insulting to SPHRUBC because this presence demonstrates bias against SPHRUBC and his complicity in stifling free speech on UBC,” Shaban said in his article.

“It’s really baffling why the AMS would be doing this,” Friedman said. “The IAC presented a petition with seventeen signatures, and this is not compelling evidence that students are on their side.”

Friedman does not believe council will stop the proceedings. “I seriously doubt they will suspend this transaction; there is no historical precedence [of AMS interference in resource group budgets],” she said. “If it does go through, which I seriously doubt it will, we’ll challenge it.” U

How could your money get to Gaza?

UBC Students ($35 goes to...)

The AMS ($1.50 per student goes to...)

UBC professor Roger Shiner is working to prove his theory that corporations should be held to the same standards of accountability for criminal offences as individuals. Corporations, according to Shiner, are very rarely prosecuted for a criminal offence, despite the harm they cause in any given case.

One of the main goals of the study is to examine how courts find it difficult to apply standard conditions of criminal fault to corporations. Shiner received $67,466 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to develop his theory.

A sustainable breakthrough for UBC chemistry department

Chemistry researchers at UBC have created energy conserving film for glass using nanocrystals of cellulose, the main component of paper. Researchers hope this discovery will help buildings to be more energy efficient, and will reduce energy used to cool buildings. The research, conducted by UBC chemistry professor Mark MacLachlan, was done in partnership with FPInnovation.

Resource Groups

education dean finalists to present to the public

($9781 goes to...)

UBC has narrowed its search for a new Dean of Education to just two candidates—and now they want your help.

This week, the university will host presentations from the two finalists at the Aquatic Research Laboratories. Glen Jones, associate dean at the University of Toronto’s Academic for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, will speak this Monday from 2:00 - 3:30 pm, while Blye Frank, head of the department of bioethics at Dalhousie University, will speak Thursday from 1:00 - 2:30 pm.

Following a 15 –20 minute presentation, the two will take questions from the audience.

The public hearing is the final step in UBC’s selection process.

Either Jones or Frank will succeed Robert Tierney, who became Dean in 2000, as head of the faculty. U

Social Justice Centre ($700 grant goes to...)

Solidarity for Palistinian Human Rights (to help fund...)

Canadian Flotilla for Gaza

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Tennis grunting gives competitive edge Every man gets his day yara de jong Contributor

MICKI COWaN mcowan@ubyssey.ca

Loud grunts are a familiar sound on the tennis court. It may be just part of the game, but a UBC study has shown that these emphatic outbursts may not only heat up your play, but can actually help you win the match.

The grunting of professional tennis players has been the topic of discussion for a while now, but only recently have the effects been studied. UBC psychology professor Alan Kingstone collaborated with psycholog y assistant professor Scott Sinnett from the University of Hawaii and found out that such noises make an opponent’s response both slower and less accurate.

As part of the research, UBC undergraduate students had to respond to videos of a tennis player, indicating the direction of the ball as quickly as possible. Half of the shots contained a brief sound at the same time the ball was hit.

The results were clear: participants made more decision and accuracy errors when there was someone ‘grunting’ along.

“The actual timing difference is fairly small, but when you translate that onto the tennis court, including the speed of the ball and the distance being hit, it turns out that the difference is actually quite substantial,” said Kingstone.

“Effectively, the ball can travel two feet closer to the opponent before he has a chance to respond.”

Kingstone and Sinnett became interested in the topic after discussing whether or not grunting in tennis is a form of cheating.

Clarence So, one of the coordinators of the UBC Tennis Club, doesn’t consider grunting a form of cheating and believes it helps to release stress and gives players an extra edge.

International Men’s Day, a UNsanctioned day that seeks discourse about issues that men uniquely face in society, just held its first Vancouver celebratory event on November 20 at the downtown Roundhouse Community Centre.

Event coordinator David Hatfield said that he had two main goals in setting up the event, including increasing recognition for “good, honest, decent men” and to “validate the significant challenges that men and boys face.” The annual event started in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999 and is now celebrated on five continents.

Many people showed up at the event to take part in events like ‘broga’ (yoga designed particularly for men and the male body) and check out booths from groups like Big Brothers and KidStart. Participants could also write supportive messages to their fathers on an interactive board and listen to guest speakers. Hatfield said the event was a great start.

“We did not get any funding, we did not have any advanced press, this is mostly word of mouth and grassroots, and still we had a really good turnout.”

Hatfield said that not all feedback pre-event had been positive.

“There’s a lot of people who have the perception that men don’t deserve a day because every day is men’s day,” he said. “[They ask] why we are celebrating anything good about men when men are still involved in so much violence in the world or corruption or doing things that we wish they weren’t doing.”

According to a press release about the event, 80 per cent of the jobs lost in the current recession have been men’s jobs, male suicide rates in Canada hold steady at three to four times higher than womens’, 95 per

Now you know to root for the grunter. david elop photo/The Ubyssey

“Grunting can be an addiction.

If your opponent grunts, you want to grunt as well. You’re both being serious and you help each other to build up your game.”

Kingstone and Sinnet are conducting further research to see if they will have similar findings with real grunts and professional players.

“Maybe there’s a way for professionals to get around the problem, but a lot of research on this type of effect, where sound affects vision, suggests otherwise,” said Kingstone.

What their studies will mean for professional tennis play is yet to be seen. Kawai So, president of the UBC Tennis Club, doesn’t believe there will be any consequences from the study soon.

“I don’t think there will be any rule change, because grunting is mostly accepted. It’s part of the game. It’s just more of a dramatic component.”

According to Kingstone, however, their study has successfully fueled the debate.

“There’s a real desire for something to happen. I don’t think our findings will directly have an impact, but I think it will be used as a leverage for people to say enough is enough.” U

U

Online exclusives

Check out our videos highlighting Men’s Day and tennis grunting at ubyssey.ca/news.

cent of workplace deaths in Canada are male, and mens’ mortality rates are higher in 212 of 221 nations worldwide.’

For the 21st century man, Hatfield thinks more needs to be said.

“A lot of people that are here today are feeling like we need to right the balance a little bit and create a more authentic and genuine and diverse view of men, and that means looking at the positives as well as the negatives,” he said.

Professor Larry Goldenberg, head of the urology department at UBC, was at the event speaking on men’s health issues. Focusing mainly on prostate cancer research, Goldenberg sees the event as a way to inform young males about lifestyle choices.

“It’s all about reaching out to people and awareness. Men’s health is an area that has been neglected and needs to have attention paid to it,” he said.

“We have women’s health strategies in this country, we have women’s health networks, we have women’s hospitals—we have to get out to men, particularly younger men, university students, and make them aware that they’re not invincible.”

UBC Opera student Michaela Dickey was surprised to hear about the event, but supportive of it.

“Never heard of it,” she said, “[but] if men want to get together and speak about things that are pertinent to them or that they have worries about or just things that they want to talk about, then they should have the right to do that, just as we have the right to talk about whatever we want.”

Hatfield hopes that next year UBC groups and students can get more involved with the event.

“I’d just like to have more youth voice, and the voice of young men and women into the mix, it’s really important,” he said. U

Write for news! Why? Because we cover important campus happenings that affect your student life. arshy mann | news@ubyssey.ca

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2010.11. 22/u byssey.ca / nationa l/5

national

editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca associate SALLY CRAMPTON » associate.news@ubyssey.ca

Addressing the university gender gap Karolina Karas The Martlet (University of Victoria) VICTORIA (CUP) — When Cory Dohlen entered the first year of his primary education practicum, he was shocked that there were 5 other men in his class of 29—not because there were so few boys, but because there were so many.

Dohlen’s feeling can be tied to an increasing trend of girls outnumbering boys in post-secondary institutions. Female enrolment in Canada has been increasing over the years, sitting at 58 per cent in 2008-2009 according to Statistics Canada.

Jamie Cassels, vice-president academic at the University of Victoria, believes there’s no answer for this phenomenon.

“For almost ten years, it’s been like that: a female population that is at about 60 per cent versus 40 per cent for males. And it varies.

It’s interesting that it’s not getting worse. The question for me is, is it even a problem? If it is a problem, are there barriers and problems at the university level or is it happening somewhere else?”

One theory suggests the gap between males and females begins in elementary school, where the vast majority of teachers are female and have a strong mentorship role.

“If you look at the [gender divide] of teachers in secondary schools, it’s roughly 50-50,” explained Cassels, whereas in elementary schools, males make

up approximately 20 per cent of the teaching staff nationwide.

In Dohlen’s primary education program, only 20 of the 140 students were male.

Cassels believes social values and milieus are what influence children to attend university.

“The most important determinant of whether or not a student goes to university is based on what is talked about around the dining room table—essentially, social values,” he said.

The second most important, according to Cassels, is the student’s second home: school.

“Those images of what you’re going to do, most of the literature shows, gets fixed in your head in late elementary and middle schools. By the time you’re in high school, you pretty well know what pathway you’re on. So if gendered messages are happening in elementary school, that’s where it’s most likely to be influential,” said Cassels.

A female-dominated education program is a concern of Cassels.

“Teaching is female-oriented and that means a lot of boys don’t have role models in the education system. They lose motivation to go further,” he explained.

Jo-Anne Lee, a women’s studies professor, doesn’t believe bringing more males into the education system will change the gender gap.

“Why is education considered a female occupation? We have to address the gender bias in education, which reflects the gender

Want to know how to get involved or meet our editors? Come to our general staff meeting, every Tuesday at noon at The Ubyssey office, SUB Room 24. justin mcelroy coordinating@ubyssey.ca

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Poor guy. photo courtesy Sol Kauffman/the Martlet

bias in society at large,” Lee explained. “Looking after young kids is seen to be an essential female nature. I think we need to look at popular culture and the messages of popular culture and masculinity.”

Lee explained that while these constructions of gender are at play in our society, the gender of elementary teachers doesn’t matter.

“So what if we put men in

primary education? They will become feminized in elementary school—they’re not seen to be ‘real guys’ because ‘real guys’ don’t do that. There’s a culture of masculinity in our culture that tells boys that it’s okay to be jocks, but men today are rewarded for their brawn and not their brainpower, at least in high school.”

Lee said men in elementary

education will be pressured to conform to the dominant image of that field.

“If we don’t address the context in encouraging guys to teach in lower grades, putting guys in that situation won’t change anything.”

However, Lee further emphasized that the gender gap is not the biggest problem facing universities and society as a whole.

Lee noted that in Canada, women are still paid less than men for the same job, which she says is a prominent issue in the education system as a whole.

In October 2009, University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera, a South Asian female, stated in an interview that there is a gender problem in universities and that she would be an advocate for young white males.

Cassels, however, said it can be risky to be at the forefront of social change.

“I think the gender gap will emerge [as a problem] and we’re getting to the point of saying it’s something we should be worried about, but we’re fairly far back in the queue having the social science knowledge as to what to do about it.”

As for Dohlen, he is no longer in the elementary school education program and is currently pursuing a sociology degree.

“Being a role model for young boys would be motivation to step into that position,” he said. “But if you no longer want to do it then you’re not going to be a good teacher or role model.”

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culture

editorS BRYCE WARNES & JONNY WAKEFIELD » culture@ubyssey.ca ASSOCIATE ANNA ZORIA » associate.culture@ubyssey.ca

N*gg*r and f*g: two bad words, one message

theatre

Berend McKenzie educates kids about homophobia and racism Anna Zoria associate.culture@ubyssey.ca “I was falling out of the closet with a Michael Jackson jacket and a mohawk and wearing eyeliner and dressing like the girl that I had a crush on, thinking she was going to change my life. I was resisting coming out of the closet so badly.

Everyone around me knew, but in that moment I couldn’t see that there was anything beyond tomorrow.”

These are the words of Berend McKenzie, actor and playwright, most recently known for the success of his play N*gg*rf*g. Growing up black and gay in small town Alberta, McKenzie has seen more than his fair share of discrimination, racism and bullying.

“My parents were white, and I was adopted. I was the only black child in our town. We’d walk on main street and people used to stop their cars and point, like ‘Look at the little nigger with the afro.’”

Simi larly, being gay was not something that was easily accepted.

“When I was sixteen I got really drunk one night at a bush party and came onto a guy. The next day the student council

president came up to me before I entered the class and told me, ‘You’re no longer welcome at this school. And if you come in we can’t guarantee your safety.’”

At this impressionable age, McKenzie said he “felt doubled down.” Seeing no future ahead of him, he tried to commit suicide at 14, and after an unsuccessful attempt he turned to alcohol and drugs as a way to escape reality.

N*gg*rf*g, which focuses on the issues of growing up black and gay, has been written with the premise of allowing kids and young adults to see that they’re not alone in whatever they’re going through. For two years it has seen amazing success at Fringe festivals across the country and most recently has been taken to schools in the Surrey and Vancouver districts.

“The kids love the honesty and they find it liberating to be able talk about these things,” he said. “At the end of the play, when we do a talk-back, they confess and say things like ‘I was pushed into lockers,’ or ‘I’m not gay but I was called a faggot because I like figure skating.’ ‘Cause, you know, it’s not just queer youth that is getting bullied. It’s anybody that is perceived as different.”

N*gg*rf*g not only opens discourse on these issues, but also plays a role in disarming those two words—’nigger’ and ‘fag’— which are most commonly used to oppress.

“Most recently a young Grade Six girl put up her hand in front of 300 students that she didn’t know and asked me, ‘So I was just wondering, how does the word ‘nigger’ affect you now?’

And it took my breath away—it gave me shivers. Because when I look at her, I think, ‘When will she ever use this word again?

Probably never. And if she does use it, it probably won’t be within a negative context.’ Because it’s really not the word. It’s the context.”

Against t he backdrop of a recent streak of gay suicides in the United States, it seems that now, more than ever, it is crucial to educate our youth on t he ef fect s of bu l ly i n g , racism, homophobia and discrimination. For McKenzie, it seems simple.

“If you bully at all, you’re out.

There have to be consequences now. Because what happens is, kids like me end up walking over to the Lions Gate bridge, and we jump off—because we don’t think that there’s any other choice.” U

Geoff Lister Photo Illustration/The Ubyssey

music

All hands on decks at CiTR FunDrive party That DJ Competition by that radio station gets those students moving

Charles Depman Contributor On Thursday night, CiTR shook the Pit Pub with their annual That DJ Competition. The competition, kicking off of the station’s ongoing FunDrive fundraising effort, featured eight DJs and attracted dozens of eager-to-dance students.

The night’s lineup included DJs J.D., Autonomy, Vinyla Xtrax (a DJ duo), Treble Rebel, Roy E Biv, Renger, Chano, and Oker Chen.

The crowd chose the winning DJ by submitting voting slips throughout the competition, and awarded DJ duo Vinyla Xtrax the top prize: the two will be paid to perform as an opener for the AUS’s upcoming Mardi Gras party.

The competition was the public debut for several of the DJs, and a stepping-stone for many of them to perform in front of larger crowds.

“It went really well, better than I had expected,” said Autonomy, whose music, before the competition, had never strayed far from the confines of his room. Vinyla Xtrax, who seemed to attract the most fans, had never performed outside the comfort of UBC Housing’s dormitory events and dances.

“We’re looking forward to performing in front of an even bigger crowd at Mardi Gras,” they said.

song library on a hard drive, Roy E Biv flipped through two large bags of records during his performance.

While waiting for their turn to perform, the DJs sat around at the back of the improvised DJ pit with headphones, and a few even joined the crowd to dance to their competitors’ music.

Due to time spent fixing technical glitches on house equipment, the DJs had to cut their performances short by a minute or so. Most of the DJs had prepared to play longer sets and couldn’t end with the bang they had hoped for; many of their sets seemed to fizzle to an end, mid-song. During the downtimes, the competition’s MC cracked jokes and played songs off a lackluster playlist.

Despite the hang-ups, the crowd was buoyed by the energy of the DJs and their music, and CiTR managed to pull off a successful event. U The groove proceeded despite technical difficulties. david marino photo Illustration/The Ubyssey

Some of the competition’s other DJs, such as J.D., are performance veterans, and have played at Vancouver night clubs and other, larger venues.

“I’ve been playing for quite a while… I started on my dad’s old

DJ equipment. It wasn’t digital, so I really had to train my ear to help me sync the tracks. Nowadays everything is easier—digital- andvisually-assisted,” said a sweaty J.D. after his energetic performance, which opened the show.

Indeed, most of the DJs used turntables linked to laptop computers to mix, but DJ Roy E Biv surprised the crowd by shunning such technology and using vinyl records on two turntables. Instead of using a digital

U

Online exclusives

Check out video footage of That DJ Competition at ubyssey.ca/ culture.

2 010 .11. 2 2 / u bys s e y.c a /c u lt u r e / 7

BURLESQUE! THE FEATURE

“Burlesque,

in its basest form…is an exaggeration of what it’s like to be a woman,” explains Burgundy Brixx.

As you can glean from her stage name, Brixx—real name Kirsten Hogan—is quite the burlesque authority. Brixx and her partner, the Purrfessor (Doug Thoms), are royalty in the Vancouver burlesque scene, and arre co-founders of Kitty Nights, Vancouver’s longest-running weekly burlesque show. With 12 troupes performing regularly around the city, several weekly events and an international festival entering its sixth year, Vancouver may well become a burlesque hotspot.

by siri williams of burlesque is what makes it beautiful.”

This ‘blunt’ authenticity is what made burlesque so popular in the first place. Burlesque has been around since the 1890s, but became extremely popular in the first half of the 20th century. Early burlesque was notable for its provocative performances, which combined the sensuous, the farcical and the political—often parodying the refined sensibilities of the upper class.

A grand old revival Burlesque dancing has enjoyed a revival in the past few years and has entered the mainstream in ways that are troubling to purists like Brixx. A trained dancer, she got her start in New York performing with the Rockettes, creators of the now iconic chorus line. She and the Purrfessor moved to Vancouver in 2008, founding Kitty Nights shortly thereafter.

Most people think of burlesque in one of two ways. Some picture iconic pin-up girls: vintage hairstyles, garter belts and feather fans; curvy women bumping and grinding to the growl of sax-driven jazz. Then there are modern interpretations, a la the impossibly toned Pussycat Dolls, dancing hip-hop in lingerie and singing suggestive pop music. And with the release of the controversial film (in the burlesque community, anyway), Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, this confusion about what burlesque truly is will grow even further.

Brixx says these two conceptions of burlesque are fundamentally opposed to one another. “It can be argued that people like the Pussycat Dolls are burlesque in that they do exaggerate some aspects of being female, but it’s very limited what they do. It’s not inclusive in terms of body type, in terms of comedy; it’s not inclusive as an art form. It’s a very slim section on the grander scale of what burlesque is.”

The Pussycat Dolls and the Burlesque film represent a mainstream grab at a recent resurgence in burlesque culture. A 2008 New York Times article called it “neo-burlesque,” with new troupes and events of all shapes and sizes taking root around that city. According to Kate Valentine, founder of one of New York’s first neo-burlesque troupes, interest in burlesque has grown exponentially since around 2002. “A single current seems to characterize all these incarnations of burlesque,” said the article. “An exasperation with the corporate blandness of modern mass entertainment...to satisfy audiences

To strip or not to strip?

Virginie Menard illustration/The Ubyssey

jaded by Hollywood blockbusters, and seeking personalized, nervy and unpredictable shows with homemade authenticity.”

“What the revival has done is brought back the original elements of burlesque and combined them with the elements of striptease to create an art form that is really unique and empowering and performance art-based,” said Brixx. “It can be social and political satire...and what it always is, is original and individual as well as being an art form that embraces all different female body types!”

Said performer Fawna Fontaine, who requested that only her stage name be used, “Burlesque is so much more than getting onstage and looking like a Pussycat Doll…it’s got no boundaries. It can be showy and beautiful…but getting to the bluntness

Though it varies from show to show, there is usually nudity in burlesque.

This has led some to argue that burlesque is not an empowering art form.

This became an issue when the city of Glasgow, Scotland, put forward a bill requiring burlesque clubs acquire “sexual encounter” entertainment licenses or shut down, according to a BBC article dated May 29, 2009.

Laurie Penny, a feminist journalist and burlesque dancer, described the situation in that city.

“Some club owners may think, ‘Let’s have a burlesque night.

We’ll put some strippers in corsets,’” she said. “I don’t think the ultimate symbol of feminist empowerment is for women of any size to be sex-objects.”

Club owners interviewed in the article indicated that typically roughly 60 per cent of the audience for their burlesque nights was female.

“If people are going solely to see a girl take off her clothing… you’re there for the wrong reasons. There’s more of an artistic value there,” said Fontaine. However, the nudity often is an integral part of the show. In Brixx’s opinion, “I think it’s important to be able to show people that nudity does not have to be dirty and vulgar but that it can be fun and playful and that people should embrace their sensuality rather than pushing it aside.

What burlesque always was in the golden age was a comment on people’s hang-ups about sex and body types.”

Although they are both in the category of “exotic entertainment,” burlesque dancers see a difference between what goes on at a stripclub versus a burlesque show. Said entertainer Maggie

Pie, who also requested only her stage name be used: “Burlesque is for the gratification of the performer. Strip clubs are for the gratification of the audience.”

“They’re not doing it for the money,” added Brixx. “They’re not doing it because they need that guy in the audience to go with them into the back room and give them money for a lapdance. It’s a completely different objective. Burlesque is more sensual than sexual. Our gestures may be suggestive, but they’re not vulgar.”

Putting the ‘va va voom’ in Vancouver Vancouver’s introduction to burlesque came in the early 2000s with the formation of troupes like Sweet Soul Burlesque and Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society, many of which are still around.

“Vancouver gives me the vibe of New York in the 80s where it was full of bohemians and artists and all these great musicians and people who were really doing something with their art because they didn’t have money to do anything else…you have to make your own fun,” said Brixx. “Artists come out of those dire straits communities. Vancouver just retains its sort of raw power and I believe that’s why there’s so much creativity that comes out of it. Also because it’s Hollywood North, the influx of makeup artists and special effects

people and costuming people here are a huge contribution to the burlesque community.”

Numerous Vancouver burlesque troupes and performers have taken home awards for their work. Last year, several Vancouver troupes performed in the Miss Exotic World Pageant—generally considered the top honour for a performer in the world of burlesque.

Melody Mangler, head of Screaming Chicken, won Best Debut in 2009 and competed for the title of Miss Exotic World this year.

Brixx and the Purrfessor are also founders of the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, which ran four nights in early May to a sold out audience.

Brixx and the Purrfessor’s time as the burlesque barons of Vancouver may be coming to a close. They are currently fighting a deportation notice after their work permits were denied renewal. However, they remain positive and hopeful about the development the burlesque scene in Vancouver will go through in the coming years. Said Brixx, “In the next five years, I would like to see burlesque in Vancouver become much larger and be respected—not as underground, but as a legitimate part of the arts scene in Vancouver.” U Siri Williams is involved in the Vancouver burlesque scene, performing with various troupes as Holly Allnightly.

BURLESQUE TROUPES IN VANCOUVER!

Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society Sweet Soul Burlesque Pandora and the Locksmiths Girls On Top Risque Cabaret Pink Flamingo Burlesque The Starlet Harlots Collective Cheesecake Burlesque Naughty and Spice troupe Bad Girl Burlesque The Voodoo Dollz Bloody Betty and the Deadly Sins

8/ u bys sey.ca / fe at u r e s/2 010.11. 22

Injecting Transpa

Debate over animal testing at UBC p “If UBC is so proud of its animal research, why is the university refusing to hand over information about its experiments?

What does UBC have to hide?”

So said Brian Vincent, spokesperson and head of Stop UBC Animal Research, in a November 15 press release. The release, which alleges t hat UBC has failed to comply with the provincial freedom of information act, is one of many that the organization has released in the last several months as part of their campaign. STOP was formed in 2008 following an article regarding UBC animal testing published in The Ubyssey.

“Our goal is to ultimately end animal research at UBC,” said Vincent to The Ubyssey.

Full disclosure STOP’s awareness campaign has intensified this academic year.

In addition to filing several requests under BC’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, STOP recently teamed up with international animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for an event in downtown Vancouver aimed at raising public awareness regarding UBC’s animal testing practices. Currently, their campaign has focused on transparency in animal testing at UBC. An October 12 letter from the group included signatures from over 60 animal rights and social justice groups from across North America and Europe. In the letter, the groups asked UBC “to fully disclose information about its animal research program, including the numbers and species of animals utilized in experiments at UBC over the last ten years to determine whether the number of animals has increased or decreased.”

“We’re not under any obligation to reveal information,” said Dr John Hepburn, VP Research at UBC, in response to the repeated calls requesting more transparency within animal testing and research at UBC. The Canadian regulatory system for animal testing is governed by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC). Their

policy is that individual university institutions are not required to disclose specific information related to the numbers of animals they use for testing and research. That has not stopped animal advocacy groups from trying.

According to Hepburn, it is not his choice as to whether or not the university discloses the information that STOP has requested. “Under our regulatory system, we would need the permission of the researchers to reveal the information.... and we’re never going to get that permission.”

“The real reason UBC doesn’t open its books and labs to the public is because the university knows people would be absolutely horrified by what they saw— the systematic experimentation on tens of thousands of animals every year.”

Brian Vincent STOP UBC Animal Research

Vincent said he believes Hepburn’s reason for not revealing the requested information is just a deflection.

“The excuse UBC is using to withhold information for the public is a red herring,” said Vincent. “The real reason UBC doesn’t open its books and labs to the public is because the university knows people would be absolutely horrified by what they saw—the systematic experimentation on tens of thousands of animals every year.

“It is arrogant and condescending of UBC to say research is the ‘intellectual property’ of researchers and that the public wouldn’t understand the information if it was released. UBC’s

suggestion that the public is too ‘dumb’ to understand that information is insulting and patronizing.”

Dr Alka Chandna, laboratory oversight specialist at PETA, said that if more people were aware of what was taking place in labs on university campuses across North America, they would be against it. “I think [universities] are aware that public sentiment against what is going on in laboratories to animals has reached a point [where] they recognize that they will not fall on positive favour if the public knew what was going on in these laboratories.”

Hepburn said he will not bow to the pressure from advocacy groups. “[If you] release information without the medical context—in other words, if you ask a member of the public, ‘If I am going to do the following thing to a monkey, or to a cat or to a mouse, what do you think?’—the natural response would be that sounds like something that’s not very nice to do to that animal.

If you say I’m going to develop a new treatment for this disease which is affecting you, your relative, your friend, there would be a different answer.”

How transparent should animal testing be?

Hepburn said that if the parameters existed, he would be open to disclosing more information regarding the numbers of animals tested on at UBC. “Frankly, if it was anonymized data—in other words, this is the stuff that goes on at the university, like we used this many thousand mice last year—other than the amount of work involved, I personally wouldn’t object to that. But that’s not up to me.”

But according to Vincent, STOP is not requesting t he names of professors or researchers involved in animal testing— just the numbers of animals used and the invasiveness of the procedures.

“Stop UBC Animal Research has not advocated making their names public,” he said. “We are not interested in the researchers. We are interested in the research.”

Jim Pfaus, a psychology professor at Concordia University in Montreal, says that the CCAC will not disclose the number of animals that individual universities test on “for good reason.”

He argues that animal advocacy groups

misconstrue numbers to suit their own purposes, taking data out of context. “These numbers from those individuals tend to be misused and misrepresented as they have been for a very long time. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are, the spin’s always going to be the same.”

One rea son pressu re i s mounting on the CCAC and Canadian universities such as UBC to release information is the fact that much of the funding for animal testing and research conducted at Canadian universities comes from the federal and provincial governments.

“We’re not under any obligation to reveal information.”

John Hepburn Vp research, ubc

“UBC researchers work for the public,” said Vincent. “We are their boss because we pay, at least in part, their salaries.

Research information is not the property of UBC. It is the property of the people.”

According to the UBC Office of Research Services website, the university received nearly $550 million in the 2009– 2010 academic year to conduct research. Of that, nearly $400 million came from the government—although not all of this supports animal testing.

UBC isn’t alone. CCAC Executive Director Clement Gauthier said 89 per cent of CCAC’s funding comes through government grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

“If they are going to take the money...they have to be answerable,” said Chandna. “Animal experimentation is not a right that [researchers] have. Society has given them the ability to use animals but it’s under a social contract. There is a contract that we have with experimenters, that if they are going to use animals... with the understanding that certain guidelines or certain regulations are going to be adhered to... then it’s an expectation that has to be fulfilled by the universities that participate in this.”

The guidelines for animal testing UBC, along with every other university in Canada, must adhere to strict guidelines put in place by the CCAC. If a university researcher wants to conduct tests involving animals, they must first apply for federal funding, which comes in the form of grants from CIHR and NSERC. If they are approved, the proposal goes to vote in front of an ethics board, called the Animal Care Committee (ACC), which each university has as part of an animal care facility.

These committees are comprised of people from various

back grounds. UBC’s et h ics board, for example, contains 21 people, 9 of whom are scientific researchers. However, it also includes four veterinarians and three community members.

According to Pfaus, Concordia’s animal research ethics committee includes one member from every faculty that uses animals in addition to one veterinarian and one member from the Humane Society. Chandna, however, believes that these committees cannot be trusted to be objective.

“The institutional bodies that are supposed to provide oversight both in Canada and in the United States are rubber-stamping committees,” said Chandna.

“We’re seeing a lot of issues that people on these committees are too intimidated by the experimenters to reject [and] the veterinarians aren’t keeping up to date on what the most humane methods are.”

But Hepburn said not all projects get approved—at least initially.

“Very few protocols are approved outright; most are sent back for revisions,” said Hepburn. “The ACC rarely rejects a protocol, but it does happen.

For example, in a five-hour meeting...the ACC reviewed 32 protocols and none were approved outright. One was rejected, meaning it won’t be reviewed again.

Four were deferred, meaning the researcher must respond to questions and re-submit the protocol for full committee review.

The rest had provisos, meaning they are reviewed in detail by a sub-committee.”

Sub-committees can include the chair, a veterinarian, a community member and a health and safety staff member. Gauthier said that “we take for granted that the majority of the Canadian population wants that animals be used [in testing], but want it to be used properly in a system where you have surveillance happening and peer guidelines and external pairs of eyes.”

“I wish I could come back as a rat. They have way more sex than I have. And I would get governmentgrade cocaine.”

Jim Pfaus Psychology Professor

Hepburn arg ued t hat researchers must be part of these committees so that the projects can be evaluated correctly.

“Let’s say you have a protocol in which some procedure is going to be done on an animal,” said Hepburn. “A researcher with some experience will say ‘That’s actually more invasive, it’s more harmful to the animal than this procedure which would actually do the same jobs scientifically but the

2 010.11. 22/ u bys sey.ca /fe at u r e s/9

arency

By Fabrizio Stendaro

fstendaro@ubyssey.ca

Illustrations by Samantha Bullis

pits activists against researchers animal would suffer less harm.’

If you don’t have an expert opinion, how do you make that call?

Now you are relying on somebody with no expertise.”

Dr John Sorenson, who teaches critical animal studies at Brock University, said that the current system is rife with conflicts of interest.

“There isn’t much incentive for them to crack down on others because they’re all working together,” said Sorenson.

But Pfaus claimed that the committees would be attracting more criticism if there was a problem with them.

“It makes logical sense in some superficial way to say, ‘Oh well, this is just a bunch of good old boys scratching each other’s backs.’ But where’s the proof?” said Pfaus. “The only people who come out of the woodwork....are Animal Liberation Front people who either create a problem that doesn’t exist or go there and say that something is happening.

If there is someone who is doing something I think is wrong, even if it’s my best friend, I’m going to tell them. You can’t shirk that responsibility.”

Pfaus said this included criticizing UBC when he came to investigate animal testing facilities as part of an CCAC ins pec t ion c onduc t ed ever y three years. “We said a couple of things, and there were people there that didn’t like what we were saying and they didn’t like what that meant for them.”

Yet some argue that since these committees are appointed, all this does is create an illusion of ethical behaviour towards animals.

“The institutional bodies that are supposed to provide oversight both in Canada and in the United States are rubber-stamping committees.”

Alka Chandna PETA

“They try to limit that participation to people who are sympathetic to their stance,” said Sorenson. “For quite a few years, I tried to get on the committee at Brock University but I was simply excluded.”

Chandna said that the presence of committees is still no excuse for the current lack of disclosure.

“What we really need is to see the records of animal care...and veterinary care for the animal,” said Chandna. “Often the minimum that is required by law or required by guidelines in the case of the CCAC—those things are not being done.”

However, the Canadian situation is very different than that in America. Animal research in the US is governed by the Animal

Welfare Act, which was instituted in 1966.

According to Vincent, the American system is significantly more transparent than Canada’s.

“My work is intended to help humanity and make the world a better place and I’m not going to let someone bully me out of doing it.

Never.”

David Jentsch UCLA

“In the states, if a federal agency like the National Insititute of Health or the US Department of Agriculture does the inspection [and] says that a university is in compliance, they have to back that up by putting their inspections online so that the public can review them,” he said. “We have no such system in Canada. It’s not that I don’t trust the CCAC or UBC, but it doesn’t allow for the public to verify if what they’re saying is true. [It’s] not a system that allows for public oversight. “ The big picture Animal rights groups such as PETA and STOP believe all research and testing conducted on animals should be eliminated. However, in Canada, the law requires testing on animals before clinical trials can occur on humans.

According to the Health Canada document ‘How Drugs are Reviewed in Canada,’ “Research for new drugs begins with scientists developing various chemical or biological substances.

Once a substance has been isolated and purified, it is administered to tissue cultures or to a variety of small animals to see whether or not there are significant changes.”

Animal rights groups take the view that deriving medical benefits at the expense of animals is unethical and scientifically fruitless. For example, STOP UBC argues that “animal research is unnecessary, cruel, at odds with society’s sense of compassion, and scientifically indefensible. [It] is like tossing darts with the lights off. There’s a remote chance you’ll even hit the dartboard, never mind score a few points. All the while countless animals, including cats, mice, primates, piglets, rats and other animals endure terrible suffering.”

Chandna argued that the pain and suffering animals experience during testing outweigh the perceived benefits. “I think that empathy requires that we require that their lives matter to them as much as our lives matter to us...Even if we benefit from exploiting animals and

using them as a means to an end...we think that it’s wrong.

There may be pieces of information that we can’t get except for via animal experimentation but we would still reject them.”

To prove her point, Chandna referred to a news release from the US Food and Drug Administration, published January 12, 2006, in which Commissioner Mike Leavitt is quoted as saying that “nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.”

Regarding the rights groups’ concerns, Pfaus also added that not all animal testing is harmful to animals. “[In] my experiments, [the animals] have sex and take drugs and eat food,” said Pfaus. “I wish I could come back as a rat. They have way more sex than I have.

And I would get governmentgrade cocaine...not [the] bullshit you get on the streets.”

Sorenson believes that there is a correlation between animal and human rights. “Any animal activist that I know is concerned about human rights and human suffering as well. It’s only the people who are exploiting animals who make it an either-or proposition. I think more people are thinking about their relationship with nature, with the planet and becoming more aware of the consequences, the way animals store food...and the environmental damage caused by animal exploitation.”

Conversely, Hepburn considers the abolition of all testing and research on animals unrealistic. “We’d all be vegetarians if we all held that view. The fraction of vegetarians in our society is a small minority.”

He also believes that animal activists are making UBC researchers nervous. As a result, he recently sent out an email to all staff and students urging them to be more vigilant around t he campus. Hepburn said this was because,

“researchers were getting concerned that U BC wa sn’t defending them.”

Fear on both sides Dr David Jentsch has been the victim of violence. In 2009, his car was firebombed in front of his home. He said the attack has changed his day-to-day life “profoundly.”

Jentsch is a professor in the department of psychology and psychiatry and associate director for the Research of the Brain Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles.

He believes he was specifically targeted because activists are trying to stop research on larger animals such as cats, dogs, cows and monkeys.

“A fraction of my own research involves non-human primates, and when they learned my identity through records requests, they made a specific attack on me,” he said.

Jentsch said that the bombing is just one example of actions taken against him as an individual. “[Los Angeles animal rights activists] come and protest at my house once or twice a month for three hours at a time.”

Jentsch knows several researchers at UBC who live in fear of being attacked.

“I have colleagues at UBC who have

said, ‘We’re afraid.

We’re not going to go out there and talk about it. We’ll get bombed.’”

Vincent is also worried. He believes he and his group STOP are under surveillance. In a report entitled ‘Extremist Watch,’ there is a picture of Vincent from his Facebook group, which is private. The report was published

by Information Network Associates, Inc. (INA) which, according to their website, “has been a licensed private detective agency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since 1983. INA provides premier services for government, private enterprise and private citizens.”

The report describes in detail STOP’s campaign, in addition to Vincent’s attendance at the Animal Rights 2010 Conference.

Jentsch, who is trying to develop new treatments for schizophrenia, said that he will not give in to the activists’ demands.

For this reason, he founded the UCLA branch of Pro-Test.

“The fundamental concept of the Pro-Test group is the idea of public engagement,” said Jentsch. “Get out there, tell people what’s going on, tell people what your work is about and what you’re hoping to accomplish and people will understand it and accept it.

“My work is intended to help humanity and make the world a better place and I’m not going to let someone bully me out of doing it. Never.” U

10 / u b y s s e y. c a / s p o r t s / 2 010 . 11 . 2 2

sports

editor VACANT

UBC sweeps Fraser Valley in weekend series Drake Fenton Contributor The ball hangs in the air for a second. Its trajectory seems in line with the basket. Points appear to be imminent. At War Memorial Gym on Friday night, fans quickly learned that their optical perceptions were not to be trusted.

In a contest that lacked scoring, the Thunderbirds (8-2) defeated the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades (2-6) 84-68.

Considering UBC’s focus in practice this week, the score isn’t that much of a surprise.

“This week we focused so much on defence, we let our offence slip‚“ said head coach Kevin Hanson.

Though the offence didn’t produce a triple digit performance, as it did last week, UBC’s defence utterly dismantled the Cascades’ attack, forcing 18 UFV turnovers.

At any given time it wasn’t surprising to see a UBC player streaking down the court, by himself, for an easy lay up. More often than not this was UBC’s standout guard Josh Whyte, who had a game-high 21 points, 4 steals and 6 rebounds.

Yet for all of the Cascades’ turnovers, UBC wasn’t able to put the game out of reach early. The fact that the ‘Birds went zero for nine on three-point attempts in the second half did little to help their cause. Going into the fourth quarter, UBC only held a slim six point lead.

In the final quarter, however, UBC took control, playing with a renewed vigour and limiting UFV to 12 points. The Cascades, in a bid to quickly close the gap in score, consistently attempted three-pointers. Unfortunately, almost every time one of their shots missed, the rebound was won by a T-Bird.

On Saturday night UBC produced a very different type of performance en route to a 9682 victory. UBC exploded out of the gate with a 28-9 first quarter lead, firing on all cylinders with scoring produced by every

single T-Bird who saw the court.

UFV, on the other hand, had four players who offensively generated nothing. By halftime UBC led 44-25.

The second half was a much different story, the Dr Jekyll to their first-half Mr Hyde. UBC shockingly conceded 57 points.

The team that had utilized a stalwart defence to win Friday night was nowhere to be found. Coach Hanson was far from pleased.

“I thought our defensive intensity was really bad in those last two quarters...We got up a little bit and I thought our guys went a little bit soft. We just can’t come out and give up 57 points in the second half.“ On Friday night the Cascades’ three-point shooting hindered rather than helped them, but on Saturday it allowed them to creep back into the game, shooting a spectacular 59 per cent from behind the line in the second half. Guard Zeon Gray led the way with a game-high 26 points, as well as going 5-6 from behind the three-point line.

In the second half UBC’s offence also appeared to fizzle out.

When the ball was in their possession they struggled to execute, something Hanson was quick to note.

“I thought a lot of the stuff [UFV] were able to score tonight was a result of us not executing very well. We took a lot of shots far too early in the offence and that set us back on our heels defensively, and they were able to take advantage of that in transition. We didn’t establish ourselves in [our] backcourt defence...Our defensive energy needed to be a whole lot better.“ Unfortunately for the Cascades, their flat and uninspiring play in the first half dug them a hole too deep to get out of. The visiting team walked out of War Memorial as losers, leaving UBC on a four-game home winning streak.

The T-Birds will continue their homestand next week against the University of Lethbridge. U

Josh Whyte led the T-Birds with 41 points, 11 rebounds and 8 steals this weekend. david elop photo/The Ubyssey

......

bird droppings Women’s Hockey team enters Christmas break five points out of a playoff spot UBC marked their season’s midway point by being swept by the Manitoba Bisons, falling to 4–7–1 on the season. However, in such a tight conference a playoff berth is still possible and the Thunderbirds will come back hungrier than ever. Looking to rest and heal up over the month break, “We had a number of players, even with injuries and illness, step up admirably. It’s been a long stretch, with our bye in the first week, so now we need to heal up and get ready for the next half of the season,” said UBC head coach Nancy Wilson.

On Friday night, the Thunderbirds allowed four goals in the first two periods but came out rejuvenated in the third. With more fullice action that went back and forth and a closer shot ratio, the Thunderbirds were still unable to climb

out of the four goal hole they had dug themselves into.

“We played like a tired team which we are, in our sixth week and dealing with some injuries,” continued Wilson. “Keeping that in mind, we need to play a lot simpler game. We were way too fancy and we weren’t getting the puck deep. That was the game plan but we just didn’t execute it.”

Nellie Minshull was a thorn in the Birds’ wings as she tallied 4 points to help the Bisons trample the Thunderbirds and extend their unbeaten streak to eight games.

However, more offence will be needed as 5th year defenseman Kirsten Mihalcheon scored the lone goal for the T-Birds this weekend. In Saturday’s 4-1 loss, Alisha Choy’s cross-crease pass found the stick of Kirsten Mihalcheon who buried her season’s first goal.

“We definitely had our chances tonight to take the lead or tie it late but couldn’t convert,” stated UBC

head coach Nancy Wilson. “Overall it was a good effort but obviously we are a bit disappointed to come away with the loss.”

8 th and 14 th place finishes at NAIA Cross Country National Championships

UBC Thunderbirds cross country teams improved on last year’s NAIA Cross Country National Championship finishes. The men’s team secured the 8th place while the women finished 14th.

For the second consecutive season, Luc Bruchet paced the men’s squad, finishing in 34th with a time of 25:51. Not far behind was Jordan Smith, who finished in 25:56 for a 40th place result with Theo Hunt (26:24). Justin Kent (26:35) and Aidan Kennedy (27:01) also scored for the T-Birds, totalling for 307 points.

The sum was enough to top the previous year’s 9th place finish.

“The main goal coming into the race was to do better than we did last year, and we did that,” commented UBC head coach Marek Jedrzejek on the men’s team’s performance. “You almost always wish you had done better, though.”

For the women, Nelly Amenyogbe completed the five kilometre course in exactly 18 minutes to finish 38 th. Sarah Reimer (19:19) and Maggie Woodward (19:21) both placed in the top 100 while Rhiannon Evans (19:36) and Heather Slinn (19:52) also scored for UBC. The women totaled 385 points to finish 14th.

“They ran with a lot of courage,” said Jedrzejek of the women’s team. “Three of them were running in their first national championships race. This was a great experience for the wom- Luc Bruchet finished in 34th place en–something that bodes well in cross country. for years to come.” U Geoff Lister photo/the ubyssey

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‘Birds hunt down Bisons in OT marie vondracek mvondracek@ubyssey.ca

The Manitoba Bisons entered Thunderbird Stadium in second place in the Canada West conference, and thought taking on UBC would be an easy victory.

However, both nights resulted in the T-Birds toppling the Bisons (6–2–4) in extra time, leaving UBC (5–4–3) one point out of a fourth place playoff spot.

The Thunderbirds played well from the goalie out on Friday, as assistant captain Justin McRae opened the scoring 14 minutes in and Wyatt Hamilton added another goal in the second to take a 2–0 lead. Even though his team controlled the first half with ease, they surrendered goals at the end of the second period and beginning of the third. Milan Dragicevic was not pleased when the ‘Birds backed down after the lead had been earned.

“We’ve got to shoot the puck and drive the net,” he said.

“When we don’t do that, we’re not successful.”

UBC goalie Jordan White kept his cool for the rest of the game, making many sensational saves in the third period, overtime, and shootout, allowing T-bird forward Tyler Ruel to score the game-winner. Dragicevic acknowledged the outstanding performance of White, who came up big many times.

“When we look around the dressing room and talk about unsung heroes, he’s definitely a hero the way he’s playing,” he said.

Justin McCrae sparks the comeback on Friday. Jon Chiang photo/The Ubyssey

Saturday, the Bisons were not caught sleeping, but instead got out to a 3-1 lead entering the third, as UBC could not seem to catch the rhythm they displayed the night before.

However, the T-Birds dug deep to force mistakes in the final frame and capitalized on them.

With five minutes left, Manitoba goalie Steve Christie tried to clear the puck but fed it right to

the Thunderbirds’ Mike McGurk, who fired it home to cut the Bisons’ lead to one goal.

“We got a break when McGurk scored,” explained Dragicevic, “and we rode the emotion with four minutes left to go. No one quit, no one panicked.”

Gaining momentum, UBC kept pushing, literally. Desperate for a goal and on the powerplay, Bryce Lamb was able to tap it in through

a mess of ‘Birds and Bisons in the crease to tie the game up with just 99 seconds to go.

“We’re a greasy hockey team.

We’ve made no bones about it,” said Dragicevic. “We don’t score pretty goals.”

But UBC’s overtime goal was far from greasy. With 26 seconds to go, Craig Lineker sucked in a cross-ice pass from teammate Dalton Pajak and sniped it top shelf

through multiple screens to lift UBC to victory.

With the two wins, UBC now sits one point out of a fourth place playoff spot, but they know there is still much to do be done.

“There are still parts of the game we need to work at, and by no means are we content with any of this,” said Dragicevic. “We got four points from the number five team in Canada.” U

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perspectives

India—your opportunity philip edGcumbe Contributor I chose India because it offered a radically different exchange experience in an amazingly diverse country. I was not disappointed. My first foray in Delhi was to a quintessential Indian market; a labyrinth of stalls alive with human energy, a cacophony of noise, the full spectrum of aromas, a blaze of colours and advertisements and numerous special deals for the “firangi.”

When I found what I was looking for I gingerly stepped into the back room of a shop where I found a photographer ready to take my picture and print twelve passport photos. I needed the photos for registration at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D), my home for the next four months.

My friend Deepansh Chaudhary and I were only the second and third UBC undergraduate students to go on a Go Global exchange to India. This came as a surprise to me, because the language of instruction at most of India’s 310 universities is English.

Moreover, IIT-D is one of the best engineering schools in India and it is on a self-contained, quiet and car-free campus.

I took electrical engineering classes with students that all ranked in the top 250 in the entrance exam 300,000 students took.

My instructors spoke flawless English and credit transfer back to UBC was painless, receiving full credit for five core UBC Engineering Physics courses and one humanities course.

Like 99 per cent of IIT-D students, I stayed in a student residence and ate at the school cafeteria.

My room and board was free.

Like everything associated with India, the UBC-India exchange program has lots of potential for growth.

Recently, Canada and UBC have made building relationships pro-life posters cross a line As I was leaving my physics midterm today and walking down Agricultural Road to pick up my bike, I happened to notice some disturbing placards. And by ‘noticed’, I mean ‘was visually punched in the face.’ And by ‘disturbing placards,’ I mean ‘photos of bloody, aborted fetuses.’

For t he record, I am prochoice; that probably affects my opinion on the graphic images displayed. But regardless of your stance on abortion, I find it hard to justify forcing people who walk by to see such extremely upsetting pictures.

Forget the whole abortion issue for a second. Personally, I have a deep aversion to seeing blood, of any kind. Even a simple cut makes my hands shake and my stomach roll. After writing a midterm (which on its own is rather nauseating) the last thing I want to see is pictures of any sort of creature covered in blood. I’m very lucky, as were the people around me, that I didn’t vomit in the street.

Hemophobes are obviously not the only demographic who would be affected by these photos. What if a child were to see them? Admittedly, children aren’t the most common sight on campus, but they do pass through. If you were a parent, would you want to explain that to your kid? As for women who

with India an important focus.

In June 2010 Stephen Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a Memorandum of Understanding on higher education between the two countries. From November 8-15 President Stephen Toope travelled to India with fourteen other Canadian university presidents. One of the goals of the trip was to foster the development of innovative research and cooperation agreements between the two countries.

However, UBC recognizes that recruiting top Indian students is only half the job; a true partnership has to go both ways.

“Expanding and strengthening our student mobility programs with Indian institutions is a priority for the university; one goal is to increase the number of UBC graduate and undergraduate students who study or conduct research in India as part of their UBC experience,” said John Hepburn, UBC’s VP Research and International.

K at heri ne Beau mont, director of UBC Go Global, added that UBC recently renewed their partnership with IIT-D and began a new partnership for the exchange of students from most faculties with the University of Delhi and are working wit h academic programs to identify new opportunities for the exchange of study and research students between UBC and India.

There’s also a variety of scholarships and grants available for students interested in pursuing India-focused research.

I am very glad I chose IIT-D and India for my exchange. I was warmly welcomed and immediately became part of the campus community by joining the intra-mural field hockey and soccer team and the debate club.

Of course, the travelling was amazing and affordable and meaningful volunteer opportunities abounded. I hope that many more UBC students will soon be discovering the same for themselves. U have already had an abortion and saw those images—I can’t even begin to imagine how they would feel. To be graphically reminded of what was probably the hardest decision of your life, to be viciously judged by strangers who know nothing about you—it’s something no student should have to fear while walking around their own campus.

“But,” some might cry, “but what about freedom of speech?

Everyone has the right to express their own beliefs!” That’s true. But let’s take a look at an analogous situation: if a television show were to show something that horrific, they would be required to warn the viewers at the beginning of the show, and after every commercial. The viewers get to choose what they do and do not want to see. Evidently, that principle cannot be fully applied outside of one’s home, but we do enforce it when we can. This is why people aren’t allowed to have sex in public, or defecate in the street. Why not enforce the right to choose what we see in this situation?

So anti-abortion groups, hear my plea: you may not want to give me the option of an abortion, but I would like the option of walking around my campus without being visually assaulted. Is that one choice that you can respect?

—Coco Knight

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opinions

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editorial animal testing has no easy answer Livid protesters conjuring imagery of bloodstained labs where Cronenberg-esque experiments occur in secrecy. Stuffy, defensive researchers putting on their best “concerned citizen” face as they struggle to argue why animal research is saving our grandmothers while avoiding the difficult task of explaining exactly how and by what means. Fire-bombed cars, naked men and women in furry paint getting locked inside cages and paranoid claims of clandestine surveillance from both sides. One side evokes the terrifying spectres of cancer and HIV, while the other brings out photos of monkeys covered in lacerations.

Since the debate over animal research has been characterized with such extreme points of view, it’s difficult to imagine what actually should, or could, be changed. However, beneath the nowboiling surface of the debate is an ongoing, and in many cases, very dry conversation about how regulations and committees should manage animal testing on the national scale. This is where any changes will actually take place.

Since animal testing is not going cease tomorrow, or any time soon in Canada for that matter, it’s ultimately the university animal research ethics committees which are going to make the most difference in the short-term. All things considered, the way that these boards are selected does feel unseemly. The argument so far has essentially been that these boards are ethical people who know what they are doing. But since the public has little interaction with them, it’s difficult to ascertain to what degree this is true. The Canadian Council on Animal Care could work towards improving the accessibility of these committees and the work they do—and not just when they’re on the defensive.

However, despite their sensationalist tactics, STOP UBC Animal Research’s overall argument has some merit—on the national level. In the United States, the system is much more transparent.

American citizens know what sort of testing is being done, and what sort of benefit is being derived from it. If the system can work in America, where substantially more research is done, then it could certainly transfer over to Canada, with caveat: the names of researchers should be shielded at all costs, to ensure that they cannot be threatened with violence.

Nonetheless, any change that is going to happen has to occur at the federal level. UBC has been getting a lot of attention, but let’s not forget that it is just one institution. Even if UBC is shamed about the testing they do, that isn’t going to mean they will adopt greater transparency policies unless animal testing practices across Canada change. The public is funding a great deal of the animal research that is going on across Canada, and we do deserve to see where that money is going, but this information should be presented in a fair and equal way.

Most importantly, we really need to see more moderate, progress-minded voices in this debate.

We’ve been experiencing horrifying group-think mentality from both sides for several months and there truly hasn’t been any traction either way so far. Activists are valuable in any debate for pointing out obvious problems, and forcing key actors to meet at a table. But they generally can’t create solutions.

UBC researchers need to acknowledge that not everyone involved in animal advocacy is a violently unstable individual who would be willing to firebomb someone’s home over a few mice.

Animal rights advocates need to similarly come to terms with the fact that researchers are not sadistic neo-Dr Mengeles who find enjoyment in bringing pain and suffering to animals. Not only is research necessary to find cures to diseases that bring immense suffering to much of humanity, but it’s also legally required.

And when STOP brushes aside a threat against a researcher in his home as “a very common tactic that universities use to deflect attention away from the real issue,” they’re displaying a level of insensitivity that is likely to push people away from their cause.

Both sides have legitimate concerns and are, at the end of the day, concerned with the well being of both animals and humans. But sometimes they need to be reminded of it. U

bryce warnes graphic/the ubyssey

opinions

Rapid transit to UBC: AMS standing up for students bijan ahmadian AMS President “UBC students need rapid transit now.”

I’ve repeated those words more t i mes than I can count over the last six weeks.

I have been leading a full court press campaign to make rapid transit down the Broadway Corridor all the way to UBC a priority.

I’ve poured my heart and soul into this campaign and I’m proud to say that our hard work has paid off.

In the last few weeks, news about the UBC Line has reached an estimated circulation of 1.3 million readers, with articles referencing our campaign accounting for more than half of that coverage.

Our advocacy efforts at this stage have been focused on the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strateg y, which defines Metro Vancouver’s position on transit priorities. I have presented twice to Metro Vancouver RE: too asian I am writing in response to the opinion piece titled, “Too Asian Critics Ignore Reality.”

I agree with several points made in this article: we need more constructive discussions of race in our society; the commenters in the Maclean’s article should not have been anonymous as it gives the connotation that they had something to hide and detracts from their credibility; and this article does reflect a common discussion amongst a sub-population of our university community wary of a growing Asian population.

However, I strongly disagree that this Maclean’s article is the apropos catalyst, or a “step in the right direction,” for a discussion on race. The article’s use of phrases such as “too Asian” and “white Canadian” is senseless sensationalization to use stereotypes to capture the general public’s attention.

Growing up, I was taught that Canada is a multi-cultural country that encourages immigration from all

leaders and have discussed the issue with key regional politicians.

Why do we need rapid transit to UBC? We need a comprehensive transportation network to shape growth and make our region more livable and sustainable. Affordable and efficient transit is absolutely critical to keeping education accessible.

Transit riders make more than 100,000 transit trips on Broadway every day. 44,000 of these trips go all the way to UBC. Despite service improvements, 4000 transit riders are left behind by full buses every day.

With UBC transit use expected to grow by 10 per cent every year, it’s only going to get worse.

I’ll say it again: UBC students need rapid transit now.

In my six years of student leadership and advocacy, my approach to getting things done has not always been perfect and it has not always been popular. But it has been successful. Under my leadership, this campaign is delivering results

for students. Taking a constructive but firm approach has led to major amendments to the transit elements of the Regional Growth Strategy—a big step in the right direction.

But this isn’t about me. It’s about standing up for UBC students.

Together, we need to keep pushing all levels of government to make rapid transit down Broadway all the way to UBC a key priority.

The next stage in the Regional Growth Strategy process is a series of four public hearings.

On the evening of December 2, there is a public hearing at the Metro Vancouver offices in Burnaby. The AMS is organizing a group of students to speak in favour of the UBC Line. Students will gather in the SUB and we will provide dinner, a briefing and a chartered bus to and from the public hearing. If you would like to be involved, please email volunteer@ubclinenow.com.

Yesterday’s students stood up for our interests, and it’s our turn to pay it forward. U

countries; we are a cultural mosaic that encourages immigrants to bring along their cultural traditions to enrich the greater Canadian culture. I was seven when I was taught this in elementary school and since then, if there have been any changes to our nation’s motto, I missed the memo.

Historically, there has been xenophobia towards any new group of immigrants: the early English settlers weren’t too fond of the French, then the German settlers, then the Russians, etc. Until we see a surge of immigration from another race of people, we naturally will continue harping on’em Asians.

An article that is more constructive in the discussion of race in our nation is one that addresses that our country is built on immigration, and unless you identify yourself as an Aboriginal you yourself are an immigrant, or a descendant of an immigrant (as a side-note, many of us evil Asians invading our nation’s universities are second or third generation Canadians, which makes this issue all that more inflammatory).

In order for our society and economy to grow, we must welcome skilled and educated members to join us— this is the primary reason we encourage immigration in our country. The use of the term “white Canadians” versus non-white Canadians is inherently racist, and a slippery slope towards identifying one group as being more legitimately Canadian than another. The universities mentioned in the article are publicly funded, which makes discouragement of any race of people from enrolment ludicrous.

If non-white immigrants to our country and enrolment in our universities are issues for you, then you need to take it up with our government to change our immigration policies. It is our government who continues to approve immigrants to come here— immigrants come invited and most are hard working, upstanding citizens. If you have an issue, don’t pick on the innocent, take it up with the people with power.

—Timothy Chow

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