March 23, 2015

MARCH 23, 2015 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XLVIII FUCKIN’ NEATO SINCE 1918

NEWS AMS

CULTURE THE DUCHESS

HOMECOMING

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10

YEARBOOK

SPORTS BASEBALL

“You can’t avoid something because it has politically or socially charged aspects.”

the freedom to research prof Christopher Shaw advocates scientifc freedom for vaccine research.

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 |

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS, PEOPLE + CAMPUS

EVENTS TUESDAY

OUR CAMPUS

THIS WEEK, CHECK OUT ...

2

ONE ON ONE WITH THE PEOPLE AND BUILDINGS THAT MAKE UBC

24

EAT TO THRIVE

1:00 - 3:00 P.M. @ IKB SOUTHEAST CORNER (SECOND FLOOR)

UBC nutrition experts will be available to discuss healthy eating and how to maintain a good diet while living, working or going to school on campus. Free

WEDNESDAY

25

LET’S TALK TRANSIT

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

Bailey was recently elected UBC’s 106th AMS president.

7:00 - 8:30 P.M. @ MBA HOUSE

Join your peers, transit experts and a representative from the Metro Vancouver Mayor’s Council to discuss the ongoing transit referendum, its pros and cons and what it means for students. Free

Aaron Bailey wants to reunite students with the AMS

WEDNESDAY

Aaron Bailey is a singer-songwriter, is studying the science of beer and winemaking, has cross dressed for his past three Halloween costumes and lost two of his front teeth by jumping off of a bridge. He is also UBC’s next AMS president.

Bailey is a fourth-year Science student from Niagara Falls, Ontario who has been involved in politics since well before he arrived at UBC, starting with serving on his high school’s student council.

25

GENERATION SQUEEZE

6:00 - 8:00 P.M. @ GRADUATE STUDENT SOCIETY (225 – 6371 CRESCENT ROAD)

Feeling the pressure of high tuition, rising cost of living and a stagnant job market? Join UBC students and profs in a discussion of the challenges facing our generation and enjoy some free food and drinks while you’re at it. Free

CORRECTION MARCH 16, 2015

BDS referendum not about dialogue, but Hillel BC open to it anyway, says Rabbi Bregman A version of this article that appeared in print misrepresented Hillel BC’s views on dialogue with BDS supporters. While Hillel BC has found attempts to engage with the pro-BDS side frustrating, they are still open to it. The Ubyssey regrets this error.

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U THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL

STAFF

Coordinating Editor Will McDonald

Photo Editor Cherihan Hassun

coordinating@ubyssey.ca

photo@ubyssey.ca

Design Editor Nick Adams

Opinions + Blog Editor Austen Erhardt

printeditor@ubyssey.ca

aerhardt@ubyssey.ca

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Copy Editor Ciaran Dougherty

web@ubyssey.ca

copy@ubyssey.ca

News Editor Veronika Bondarenko

Distribution Coordinator Lily Cai

news@ubyssey.ca

lcai@ubyssey.ca

News Producer Olivia Law

Illustrator Julian Yu

news@ubyssey.ca

News Administrator Kosta Prodanovic news@ubyssey.ca

Culture Editor Jenica Montgomery culture@ubyssey.ca

Sports + Rec Editor Jack Hauen sports@ubyssey.ca

Video Producer Tim Hoggan video@ubyssey.ca

julianyu@ubyssey.ca

Natalie Scadden, CJ Pentland, Kosta Prodanovic, Dave Nixon, Soren Elsay, Olamide Olaniyan, Lawrence Neal Garcia, Olivia Law, Tariq Vira, Kelley Lin, Jenny Tang, Leo Soh, Mateo Ospina, Koby Michaels, Jasmine Cheng, Miguel Santa Maria, Natalie Morris, Mackenzie Walker, Sam Fruitman, Braedon Atkinson Pauze, Jacob Gershkovich, Emma Partridge, Ben Cook, Ming Wong, TammyHsieh, Chloë Lai, Mischa Milne, Aiken Lao, Danni Shanel, Kaylan Mackinnon, Elba Gomez Navas

MARCH 23, 2015 | VOLUME XCVI | ISSUE XLVIII BUSINESS

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Austen Erhardt Opinions & Blog Editor

I really believe that the roots of disengagement from any system is based on how much the people in charge care about what people who aren’t in charge are doing within the system.”

Aaron Bailey Fourth-year Science student and AMS president-elect

“I’ve always sort of identified myself as a people-pleaser, so I enjoy making other people happy often to the detriment of my own happiness and well-being. It kind of stemmed from that, I guess,” said Bailey.

“When I came to UBC, it was just a passion I had developed and something I loved to do. I moved my way through SUS … and now I guess I’m here!”

UBC students tend to perceive their Alma Mater Society with a certain amount of apathy.

This year’s voter turnout of 12.9 per cent is reflective of that. Whether it’s because of a lack of communication, understanding of what exactly the AMS does or a simple absence of interest, many students don’t feel engaged with their student society. Bailey hopes to change that in his term as president.

“I’m a big believer in systems theory,” Bailey said. “I really believe that the roots of disengagement from any system is based on how much the people in charge care about what

people who aren’t in charge are doing within the system.”

Bailey intends to put a face to the AMS by attending club events and holding open office hours for students to bring their concerns to him.

“If we can prove to the students who are adding value or experiencing things at this university that we care about what they’re going through, I think that’s the only pathway to get them to start caring about what we’re doing as a whole and making it more of a communal atmosphere than us providing services to the masses,” said Bailey.

I want students to recognize that they are the stewards of the [new SUB]. It’s not the AMS that runs it — it’s every single student who ... does anything in that space. It’s up to them to turn it into something that they want it to be.”

Bailey is transitioning into the role of president in what is also a highly transitional year for the AMS: despite delays, the new SUB will be opening and ramping up service in the coming months, and with the new building comes new opportunities and responsibilities for the society.

“You hear a ton of optimism around the [new SUB] and I love that — I love that people are looking forward to it,” Bailey said.

“I want students to recognize that they are the stewards of the building. It’s not the AMS that runs it — it’s every single student who studies, eats, plans an event, naps — does anything in that space. It’s up to them to turn it into something that they want it to be.”

When asked about what he’s most looking forward to in the new SUB, Bailey struggled to narrow down his list — ultimately settling on the area above the Nest within the Nest, the pocket lounges and the potential that the building has for facilitating the development of functional neigh-

bourhoods based on the clubs that have a space in the area.

“I really want each of those precincts, where these clubs who have kind of been matched based on mutual interests, to develop a personality that relates to those interests,” Bailey said.

“I want to see people having communal dinners in the space where VOC and Surf Club and the outdoorsy people are with their own decor on the walls and furniture and their own sort of vibe to it. I want to see the board games, eSports, Starcraft area become that sort of place where people will go and geek out and do the video game type stuff. Those little hubs inside the building that are going to make it unique and not this sort of sterile piece of architecture that’s pre-planned for you.”

As president, Bailey will serve as one of the primary liaisons between the AMS and the university.

Though he fully intends to fulfill his mandate to represent students, Bailey stressed the importance of being willing to work toward a middle ground with university officials.

“One thing that we need to recognize is that university administrators are hired for a purpose.

They’re hired by a large group of people who have a certain mandate and agenda in mind, and those people come in and they work for a pay cheque to further that agenda,” said Bailey.

“I hate the idea of vilifying people. I don’t think it’s productive to point a finger and say, ‘they’re the problem — we need to get this person out.’ It’s about ensuring that we realize where they’re coming from, they realize where we’re coming from and finding some way to bring the two visions together.”

Bailey hopes to make the most of both his year as AMS president and his last year as a UBC undergraduate and still strives to lead his life in accordance with a simple maxim.

“With everything you decide to do at university, make sure that when you look back on it you’re going to have a story to tell following that decision. It’s not worth doing it if you’re not going to a have a story to provide to somebody.” U

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 |

EDITOR VERONIKA BONDARENKO

GRAD STUDENTS >>

3

HISTORY >>

GSS to look at use of AMS services, hold referendum on steps forward in 2018

AMS making yearbook in honour of centennial

PHOTO CARTER BRUNDAGE/THE UBYSSEY

The GSS is considering separation from the AMS over a lack of representation.

Veronika Bondarenko

News Editor

Over the next two years, the GSS will be reexamining its involvement with the AMS for a 2018 referendum.

At their annual Annual General Meeting on Thursday, March 19, members of the Graduate Students Society passed a motion to hold a needs assessment on the AMS services that graduate students currently use. As members of the AMS, graduate students pay annual fees for services such as clubs and the Health and Dental Plan.

The assessment will look at focus groups of graduate students on campus to examine whether the fees that they provide to the AMS are representative of the services that they use. The society

will then draft and vote on a referendum question on how to proceed as a society by 2018.

GSS President Collum Connolly said that while it’s possible the GSS will hold a referendum on whether to separate from the AMS entirely in 2018, it is more likely that members will vote on whether to continue certain AMS services and cut back on others.

In particular, the GSS hopes to examine how many graduate students currently use AMS clubs in proportion to undergraduate students and whether, as members of both the AMS and the Alliance of B.C. students, they are doubly-represented on campus.

“The problem is that there’s a minority of grad students and, again, the needs assessment needs to be done, but it’s a minority of

grad students that get the benefit of that,” said Connolly. “So all clubs are open to grad students, but what’s the proportion that actually go and join an AMS club?

That assessment needs to be done.”

Connolly also said that as graduate students make up 20 per cent of all AMS members, a complete separation of the AMS and the GSS would be a difficult transition for both societies and needs to be thought about carefully.

“I think it would be a staggered process,” said Connolly. “The whole idea is to keep both organizations and both student populations well-supported throughout and make sure that both feel well-supported, but also that both organizations are sustainable long-term.” U

SCHOLARSHIPS >>

Indian government provides $1.92 million in PhD funding Veronika Bondarenko

News Editor

India will be providing $1.92 million in funding grants for international students at UBC. According to a UBC media release, the Indian government will provide 20 students with $96,000 to complete PhD programs in Science and Engineering at UBC. The students will be coming to UBC to complete their degrees between 2016 and 2021.

The program is part of a larger partnership between several Indian universities and UBC, which was first started by former UBC President Stephen Toope in 2012 and continued by current President Arvind Gupta.

Currently, 540 Indian students attend UBC’s Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.

“This scholarship will bring some of India’s bright, young talent to UBC,” said Gupta in a media release. “I hope this is the first of many collaborations with the Science and Engineering Research Board to create new opportunities for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and young scholars in both of our countries.”

Colúm Connolly, president of the Graduate Students Society, said that the funding is an important initiative, considering international students make up a third of all graduate students at UBC and the limited funding that graduate students receive when compared to other provinces across the country.

“It’s great to see the university looking outside the box on how to fund graduate students at this university,” said Connolly.

According to Connolly, last year’s Graduate Student Satisfaction Survey found that students who had their educational expenses covered by a stipend were much less likely to struggle to pay their living expenses and that financial concerns were the main stressor for graduate students.

He also said that he hopes this initiative will serve as a motivator for UBC to develop similar stipends.

The GSS is in the process of drafting a proposal on providing more grants to graduate students that they hope to then propose to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the university.

“It’s a long, slow process from our perspective, but we’re hoping within the next four or five months to come out with a really coherent way of how UBC can move to minimum stipends to support graduate students as a university,” said Connolly. U

The AMS is planning a yearbook to celebrate their centennial.

Olivia Law

News Producer The AMS is in the process of creating a centennial yearbook for the upcoming school year.

The yearbook will be a record of the AMS’s entire history using the university’s historical archives and images from their photo collection.

The AMS has been talking about doing a yearbook for two years, and with the centennial approaching in September, the executive team is keen to push forward with the project.

“It’s a project for us to show how much the AMS has been involved in student life at UBC,” said AMS President Tanner Bokor. “We’re really trying to highlight the campus.”

The AMS is hoping to make the yearbook available online and in print, with the printed version styled as a coffee-table book with 150 to 200 pages.

“It’s including a lot of images from our photo collection,” said Bokor, “and also higher level stories of interest to UBC, to show how students shape the university.”

The AMS is aiming to make the yearbook cost-neutral for students. So far, no money has been spent on printing, copying or researching, thanks to the work of archivist Sheldon Goldfarb and a number of work-learn students.

The next fiscal year is when significant amounts of money will have to be spent on the publica-

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

tion of the yearbook.

“Right now, it’s looking to be around $30,000,” said Bokor on the outlook of the yearbooks cost.

“We have just gotten a $10,000 grant from the Centennial Initiatives Fund, and we’re also looking at donors, so our hope is that it will be cost neutral for students.”

Potential donors include former AMS executives and interested alumni as well as healthcare and insurance companies.

Still on the content creation phase, Bokor could not comment on a final cost for the yearbook, but hopes that students will engage with the documentation through the yearbook.

The 2015-2016 year will hold several commemorative events and celebrations to celebrate the achievements over the last 100 years. Although the AMS executive team have been working on the yearbook for several years, the green light was given to start on the writing in June 2014.

This has given the executive team just over a year to complete the project, and coordinate a dedicated team of work-learn students who have been looking through archives and research.

Bokor said that they are happy to have the book approaching the stage at which they can show it to the students.

“It’s a little bit of graphics, a little bit of content,” said Bokor. “It’s a really nice history book to pass on for students.” U

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4 | NEWS |

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

the freedom to research UBC professor continues to research link between aluminum in vaccines and autism despite being discredited by the World Health Organization Danni Shanel Staff Writer

W

ith the advent of the recent measles outbreak in the US, the eyes of parents everywhere are once again drawn to the hot-button topic of whether or not to vaccinate their children.

One UBC professor has felt the force of this topic upon his vaccination studies.

In 2011, neuroscientist and professor in UBC’s ophthalmology and visual science department Christopher Shaw published two papers concerning a possible correlation between the aluminum found in vaccinations and autism. These were later discredited by the World Health Organization for appearing to declare causation based on correlation. In recent months, these papers have again come under fire.

In the CBC segment “Day 6” last month, Shaw’s research was accused of being “anti-vaccination,” bringing into question both the integrity of his work and the university’s judgement.

According to Shaw, his papers and the 2011 study have been grossly misrepresented, and that vaccines as a whole are not solely responsible for the spike in cases of autism.

Instead, Shaw believes that autism is most probably the result of a combination of genetic susceptibility and its interaction with one of many possible toxins.

Shaw’s studies look at aluminum in certain vaccines as one of these potential toxins.

“The problem is that aluminum has no role in biology,” said Shaw. “It’s not an element that you want anywhere near any of your cellular processes — it can mess things up very badly.”

As a result, Shaw and co-author Lucija Tomljenovic decided to examine the potential toxicity of aluminum.

They looked at how aluminum was introduced to the human body in processed food, water and anti-acids.

They found that one of the main places was through aluminum adjuvants, a vital ingredient in some vaccines. Shaw and Tomlijenovic then decided to investigate if there could be a link between the use of these aluminum adjuvants in vaccines and the rates of autism.

Although the authors knew that such research had been widely discredited by the scientific community, they decided to look into it anyway to find a possible link.

“We are scientists,” said Shaw. “We do science. You can’t avoid something because it has politically or socially charged aspects.”

Although autism spectrum diagnoses began to increase substantially in the 1990s, widespread research discredited the link between autism and vaccines in general. The reason for the spike in diagnoses is not fully understood, although some research suggests that changes in reporting practices and improved diagnostic tools are contributing to the increased numbers.

Still, Shaw believes that there is more at play behind the increase in autism numbers.

“We haven’t had a shift in the gene pool, so if the rates are really changing, then something else is driving it.... Is it absolutely aluminum? No. It could be corn flakes, but that’s why you ask the question,” said Shaw.

In order to examine the link between aluminum and autism, they sampled CDC-recommended vaccines to determine which ones used aluminum adjuvants and in what quantity, then compared that with the autism rates. Shaw said that his study only looks at the increased rates rather than determines a causal link between autism and aluminum.

“We are scientists. We do science.

You can’t avoid something because it has politically or socially charged aspects.”

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

“IF THE RATES ARE REALLY CHANGING, THEN SOMETHING ELSE IS DRIVING IT.... IS IT ABSOLUTELY ALUMINUM?

“All that [the study concluded] was that the rates of autism ... seem to be increasing fairly dramatically,” said Shaw. “One causal factor could be something in a vaccine. Based on what we know about aluminum, we think that aluminum could be contributing to that.”

According to Shaw, he and his team went through the nine criteria developed by British statistician A.B. Hill to determine whether it was worth trying to find a causal relationship between a correlation and found that many of them were satisfied for his research.

Using mice models for experiments, Shaw continued conducting research to find whether increased aluminum injections could replicate something that is similar to autism in mice.

While his study could not demonstrate a link between autism and aluminum, the wording of the study still suggests that it might be there.

“This is where it gets interesting. It is going to be the interception of genetic susceptibility with the presence of some toxin.... It’s not just aluminum — some things are going to have the same sort of interaction,” said Shaw. “And the outcomes, no two cases are identical. So how you get there is probably as individual as the individual.”

Shaw also said that if the aluminum in these vaccines is contributing to rising autism rates, then the answer would not be to ban vaccines, but instead to find a safer adjuvant. He named a calcium-phosphate adjuvant as the nearest possible substitute, which is being tested for safety in a lab in France.

Although the WHO discredits the study as being based purely on hypothetical correlation, Shaw said he believed

the rest of the study was sound, as it has been anonymously peer reviewed and published in the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry.

“This was probably the most hardassessed set of reviews I’ve ever had,” said Shaw. “I have never had anything like this in my academic career.”

The CBC segment also called into question Shaw’s academic integrity, as it pointed out that he received $860,000 in grant money from the Dwoskin foundation, which has been associated with the anti-vaxxer argument.

Shaw said that even though he accepted the money, his research is not guided by the foundation’s principles.

“Claire Dwoskin doesn’t call me up and tell me what to do and even if they did I wouldn’t do it,” said Shaw. “This is science. We will go wherever the science goes, and we will find whatever there is to find or not.”

UBC also released a statement regarding Shaw’s right to research the link between vaccines and autism at the university being a matter of academic freedom and the scientific process.

“UBC does not endorse any faculty member’s research findings as it is up to the scientific community to evaluate research through the peer review process and to respond to findings with additional research,” said UBC Associate Vice President Helen Burt in the statement. “That is the nature of academic freedom — to challenge and have one’s findings challenged.”

While several of Shaw’s students are pursuing different studies concerning vaccines, Shaw’s most recent research focuses on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. U

NO. IT COULD BE CORN FLAKES, BUT THAT’S WHY YOU ASK THE QUESTION.”

| NEWS | 5

6 | NEWS |

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

BILL C-51 >>

Students, profs and activists gather for Bill C-51 talk

NEWS BRIEFS Kinesiology Undergraduate Society holds referendum to fund new building for KIN students

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

Four panelists presented on Bill C-15 at the Gallery.

Bill Situ Staff Writer

The year’s final BARTalk looked at the controversial Bill C-51.

The talk was held at the Gallery and organized by students from Cited, The Talon and AMS Events, who discussed the potential impact that the legislation could bring to the Canadian public.

With journalism student Gordon Katic as facilitator, the panel consisted of Jessie Housty, Margot Young, Micheal Vonn and David Christopher.

Stephen Harper proposed Bill C-51 in January and it is currently under debate in the House of Commons. This legislation entails various provisions aimed at deterring potential terrorist threats, such as expanding no-fly lists and enabling easier sharing of information between government agencies.

All of the presenters on the panel are opposed to Bill C-51 and felt that Canadians must take action to prevent the bill from passing into official legislation.

They shared similar views on how Bill C-51 could severely infringe on individual liberties and hinder state response to potential terrorist threats. “[The provision on sharing of information] would mean up to 17 different government departments, as well as CSIS, would all have access to your personal information,” said Christopher, the communications manager of Openmedia.ca. Christopher said that such a provision would be entirely contradictory to Canada’s Privacy Act. In addition to expressing concerns about violations of civil liberties, the presenters also said that some of the terms in Bill

C-51 could reduce the effectiveness of state response to national security concerns.

According to Young, a UBC Law professor, the enactment of this bill would permit the exercise of more coercive action on the part of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Given that it has been the responsibility of CSIS to gather intelligence, this may distort the roles of CSIS and the RCMP, which would be counter-productive.

“It’s not clear that this legislation actually deals with [threats to national security] and does in fact somewhat hobble the RCMP, for example, in effectively dealing with these concerns,” said Young.

Housty, Elected Councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council, also voiced concerns that Bill C-51 could have a particularly detrimental impact on members of her

community and other Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

“Anything that I do as a community organizer that is about asserting sovereignty or protecting land in my unceded territory could be construed, as I imagine, as a threat to the national interest,” said Housty.

While the Liberal Party is intending to make amendments to Bill C-51, Vonn, Policy Director of the BC Civil Liberties Association, said that even this would not be sufficient in making the bill into more effective legislation.

At the end of the talk, Christopher announced that he would be sending a petition to the Federal Parliament next Monday to oppose Bill C-51.

Young also said that with the federal election taking place in October, the audience should keep Bill C-51 in mind. U

TRANSIT >>

Better transit services outweigh downsides of 0.5 per cent tax increase, says Sauder prof

FILE PHOTO GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

The Metro Vancouver transit referendum proposes expanded transit services along with a 0.5 per cent increase to sales tax.

Mateo Ospina Senior Staff Writer

How will the higher sales tax proposed by the transit referendum affect students with limited income?

Kin Lo, a Sauder professor with a background in tax policy, is in support of the transit referendum. He believes that, especially for students, the tran-

sit referendum will invest into necessary infrastructure that will benefit all citizens of Metro B.C. in the future.

From March 16 to May 18, residents of Metro Vancouver will vote in the mail-in transit referendum, will proposes a 0.5 per cent increase to provincial sales tax in order to fund a 10year plan for improved transit

service. Some of those increases include the construction of the Broadway Line, increased light rail services in Surrey and Langley and expanded bus routes.

According to Lo, the reason for some of the opposition to the referendum has to do with the fact that the changes will be implemented over several years.

The benefits may not be as clear as the immediate extra costs associated with the sales tax.

“The benefit is long term, but there is a mismatch between the time that the cost is paid and the benefits reaped,” said Lo. Lo also said that the opposition to the referendum has chosen to focus on specific concerns related to those who support the referendum, which has served to derail a conversation on transit change that Vancouver desperately needs.

“Issues like executive compensation have become a battleground. Issues like the failure of the Compass Card system and the recent failures of the SkyTrain have come at terrible times for the transit referendum,” said Lo.

“These events make it a really awkward time to hold [the referendum].”

Though Lo admits that this year has been troublesome for the public image of transportation in Vancouver, he believes that the benefits and need of the proposed changes are positive overall.

He also said that while companies that fall within the 7.5 per cent taxation border would have a small competitive disadvantage when compared to those outside the seven per cent zone, this would be only minimally felt.

According to Lo, a more substantial threat that the taxation policy will bring is in the form of further solidifying the distinction between GST and PST in B.C. He believes that should B.C. choose to harmonize the GST and PST, policies like this one would create complications in that process.

“I don’t know whether having a different tax rate will be a hindrance in the harmonizing process,” said Lo. Still, he said that as the increase in sales tax will fund essential transit services, people should vote yes to the increase.” U

The Kinesiology Undergraduate Society held a referendum last week that asked students to approve a $250 fee increase that will go towards funding a new building for their department.

On March 20, Make Your Mark (MYM), the organization behind the fee increase, announced that the referendum had passed. Since September, MYM has been vocal about the need for a designated space on campus for Kinesiology students.

The newly approved fee will fund a $5 million dollar loan towards he construction of a new building, called the Community Health Science Centre. The project is slated to cost $88 million in total, $78 million of which will come from the government, $5 million from donors and the rest from students.

The student fee increase will now go to AMS council for approval.

BDS referendum to take place next week A referendum on whether the AMS should divest from companies that support the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank will be held next week, from March 23 to March 27.

The referendum question, which is phrased “Do you support your student union in boycotting products and divesting from companies that support Israeli war crimes, illegal occupation and the oppression of Palestinians?”, was put forth by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) gathered the necessary 1,000 signatures to put it on the ballot.

In order to pass, eight per cent of all UBC students needs to vote in favour of the referendum question. The referendum question has been disendorsed by the AMS, who took a stance that encourages students to vote ‘any way by yes’ and Hillel UBC. By contrast, UBC’s Social Justice Club has endorsed the referendum question.

UBC Senate passes new engineering programs, welcomes new Assocate VP Equity at March meeting On March 18, UBC Senate held its monthly meeting at IKB. President Arvind Gupta was absent and the meeting was instead chaired by student senator Christopher Roach.

During the meeting, Senate established the David R. Cheriton Chair in computer science and appointed Sara-Jane Finlay as the Associate Vice President Equity.

Senate also approved to disestablish the College of Health Disciplines and replace UBC’s Fisheries Centre with the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries in order to have the name better represent the type of research that is being done at the centre.

Four new engineering master’s programs as well as a master’s program in health leadership and seniors care were put forth on the table and passed.

Finally, Senate approved minor curriculum changes for graduate students in Land and Food Systems and Medicine and instated 8 new student awards.

The next Senate meeting is set to take place on April 15. U

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 |

EDITOR JENICA MONTGOMERY

7

THEATRE >>

The life of a notorious socialite in The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson

PHOTO COURTESY TIM MATHESON

This is the second time this particular script has been produced. The first was by UBC Theatre.

Olivia Law News Producer

The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson is the tale of Wallis Simpson, notorious American socialite, and features historical figures such as Noël Coward, King George V, Queen Mary and Hitler, all of whom play imperative roles in the development of the famous character we are more familiar with today.

Ruby Slippers Theatre, the production team behind The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson was co-founded in 1989 with a mission to present provocative theatre from the vanguard of English and

French Canadian literary canon; illuminating diverse perspectives and social issues. They aim to develop works with a view to provoking dialogue, questioning status quo and thus earning Ruby Slippers Theatre a reputation for smart social satire.

With just 10 cast members playing around 25 characters, the show involves numerous quick costume, accent and scene changes. Cast member Raugi Yu, who graduated UBC’s BFA acting program in 1998 describes the opening scene in a manner of creative abstraction.

“The jewels being auctioned off in the beginning are ac-

NETFLIX >>

Bottom of the Queue: The Righteous and the Wicked

tually played by people,” said Yu. “There’s a Burmese ruby, a diamond from Africa, there are British accents, Indian accents.”

These slightly fantastic elements are what the cast are hoping will set The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson apart from other historical biographic productions.

Directed by MFA directing grad Sarah Rodgers, The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson is a melange of fantasy and reality.

“It’s a very heightened world,” said Yu on the manner of storytelling produced by Ruby Slippers Theatre. “There’s reality and some very real themes — it’s

Sam Fruitman Staff Writer

There’s an old cowboy adage you’ve probably never heard of that says “Don’t worry about bitin’ off more’n you can chew; your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger’n you think.” The Righteous and the Wicked is proof that this is not always the case.

While we applaud the courage it must’ve taken to create a western with a shoestring budget, there are certain expectations that come with this long-standing genre. And this film fails on all accounts.

The film centres around Hoss Williams and his gang of bandits as they attempt to rob a local payroll centre. They pull it off, and then come to blows with one another over the cash. And there’s something about one of the gang members having a grudge against the other, but it doesn’t matter because you probably stopped caring after the first sentence. We know we did. <em>

</em>

We just have one question for director Craig A. Butler: If you’re going to make a western, would putting just one actual gunfight in it kill you? Is that too much to ask? There are numerous instances where one would have been more than appropriate, but we’re left with people just getting executed.

Where’s the tension in that, Craig?

But that isn’t even the real issue here.

Like we mentioned before, when you make a western, there are decades of examples illustrating the do’s and don’ts of the genre. For whatever reason, this film chooses to blissfully ignore this rich history, while simultaneously giving us nothing new or unique. The characters are flat, the plot is non-existent, and even the cinematography lacks the grittiness we’ve come to associate with westerns. We didn’t want to give this film the satisfaction of reviewing it, but we felt that you, dear reader, had to be warned.

The bottom line: Don’t. Just don’t. U

The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson is playing April 7-18 at The Cultch. Tickets available online. U

Audience participation encouraged with Changing the Lens’ Breaking Out of Boxes It’s one thing to perform a play about gender and sexuality, but it’s another thing to have the audience itself directly influence the outcome. This is what UBC forum theatre group Changing the Lens intend to do with in their upcoming event Breaking Out of Boxes , a forum theatre performance focusing on the problems surrounding this societal facet.

To those unfamiliar, Changing the Lens — a group associated with the UBC Players Club — addresses various societal issues through performance skits in a forum theatre format; an unconventional way for all to discuss the problem head-on, whether performer or spectator.

“When they perform it, it goes to the climax and the piece doesn’t resolve — it’s a moment of maximum conflict,” said Audrea Chen, a consultant for the group. “[When performed] the second time, the audience is invited to come on stage … and try to change the piece from there.”

With this method and motive in mind, their latest production’s themes of gender and sexuality are all the more appropriate to tackle.

Not only a popular social topic to deal with, it’s also something UBC students are all too familiar with given controversy in recent years.

“Generally, we wanna pick something that resonates with the campus community,” said Chen. </em>

GRAPHIC MING WONG/THE UBYSSEY

Williams is excited to bring new ideas and outlooks to his role.

With Simpson often heralded as the reason for Edward, Prince of Wales’s abdication, Yu is keen to stress the importance of sharing Simpson’s story.

“The story is: Wallis is important, what she goes through, what happens to her, what she’s willing to do,” said Yu. “It’s kind of the love story of the century, and it’s kind of cool that the play is based in fact and has some fictional moments to hold all the storytelling together.”

The script was developed especially for the performance at UBC in 2012, with the director taking two versions of the play, from the 90s and 2011, and cutting them together in an entirely new script.

Ruby Slippers’ performances will be the second production of The Duchess a.k.a Wallis Simpson, and an exciting opportunity to see the reunion of a well-established, largely UBC-based cast, several of whom have taken on new responsibilities beside their respective roles, such as choreography and assistant directing.

“It’s a magical romp through a very controversial romance,” said Williams in summary of the play. “A romance that brought the American and British nations into conflict. It’s a unique third-party perspective that I find really fun, filled with lightness and love.”

THEATRE >>

Miguel Santa Maria Senior Staff Writer

Just don’t.

based on real people, but also there are times when it’s just so out there.”

Some students may remember the production from its successful run at the Telus Theatre on campus back in 2012. Hailed as a “bewitching mix of androgynous sensuality and unstable vulnerability,” many of the cast and crew members from the UBC Theatre production are involved in the Ruby Slippers production.

Returning to a show has a definite mix of benefits and challenges, as the actors are finding out in rehearsals.

Matt Reznek is reprising his role as Hitler, Ciano, a courtier and Lord Falderal in Ruby Slippers’ production this spring. “We have a more professional cast together now,” said Reznek on the benefits of presenting the same show, three years on. “We have a little bit more experience under our belts, so we’ll be approaching things a little different, I think.”

However, Reznek is also aware of the challenges such a repetition presents to himself as an actor. “I’m trying to keep it fresh, not falling back into old habits,” he said. The role also requires him to play the piano (amongst other instruments) — something Reznek has not played since graduation.

Xander Williams, Reznek’s fellow actor in both productions, is keen to bring his experiences in the theatre to a new perspective for his role as Noël Coward. Performing in Coward’s plays since his first round of The Duchess,

U

“[Last year], we polled the audience to see what they want us to talk about and gender really came up quite often ... this was in light of all the Sauder rape chants and the [sexual assaults] around campus, so it was pretty relevant.”

That said, the team intends to deal with lesser known issues apart from harassment like gender stereotyping and discrimination — emphasizing more on how we “sort people into boxes” regarding gender.

“We wanted to focus more on the idea of society’s enforcement of gender roles and the consequences of breaking from the societal norm,” said Chen. “Although they dictate our behaviour throughout all aspects of our lives, it can be difficult even to identify them. When one departs from this subconsciously observed gender norm, this often serves to magnify their sense of discomfort.”

One particular skit covers customers buying scented candles in the market. “The pine wood kind of stuff is usually bounded to masculinity, and like floral and refreshing kind of smell is usually related to female,” said Sherry Wang, a second year Engineering student, and artistic director of the group. “We’re trying to show how the roles in the skit actually don’t really care about these products [and shouldn’t] bound yourself into choosing what kind of products that you want.”

Of course, the club also always looks forward to whatever the

audience does when they get on stage and face the scenarios directly.

“It feels very interesting because you get to talk to the actual audience,” said Wang. “You get to know what they feel about, [how] they change the whole scene into a different direction and might have a better solution.”

The risk of an audience member taking an offensive or unserious stance is also likely, but Chen personally looks forward to the possibility.

“You know it would actually be very interesting, it would explore what they were thinking when they did that,” Chen said. “It’d be pretty cool to see what the rationale is for doing that.”

Ultimately, what matters for Chen and the rest of the team is that people take something from the experience.

“We hope audience members come away from our performance with an increased awareness of their own assumptions and an increased interest in filling their knowledge gaps about gender-related issues,” she said. “We also hope [the performances] help audience members develop effective strategies for dealing with conflict in their own lives — no matter the subject.”

Breaking out of Boxes will be performed at Neville Scarf 100, March 24 and 26 at 7 p.m. Admission is by donation. U </em>

Like movies? We do too.

Join the force.

culture@ubyssey.ca

8 | CULTURE |

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

THEATRE >>

A hilarious end to a wonderful season with Triumph of Love Olivia Law News Producer

It’s official. UBC Theatre needs to do more musicals. Directed by MFA directing student Barbara Tomasic, Triumph of Love presents easy laughs in the tale of confused, complicated, cross-dressing, cheesy love.

Turning traditional prince-pursues-princess musical style on its head, Triumph of Love tells the story of Princess Leonide’s (Catherine Fergusson) pursuit of her beloved Agis (Zach Wolfman), whilst causing the entire household to fall in love with her. Made up of a cast of seven final-year BFA acting students, this production is the ideal way to finish their UBC Theatre careers.

The “devilishly debonair” production takes musical notes from other well-known and beloved composers of musicals — one can hear hints of Sondheim, Lionel Bart, Leonard Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd-Webber in the ridiculousness of the story. Such a story can only be told through musical; although elements of the tale are predictable, lyricist Susan Birkenhead is fully aware of this and makes almost a mockery of the serious theatrical elements. Throughout the show, the audience is vastly aware that this is, indeed, a musical — which is certainly not a bad thing.

Andrew Pye’s lighting design undoubtedly deserves a mention. Completely in sync with the music and lyrics, the effects caused laughter (of a good </

em>

</em>

kind) and added new dimensions to this rather adult Disney-style musical.

Set in 1732 French style but located in Sparta, the musical uses text and musical styles from the entire spectrum of genres. Full of gardening innuendoes, sexual puns and wonderfully terrible rhymes, the easy laughs generated from Triumph of Love are the result of equally strong performances across the spectrum, on stage and off.

Each scene left the audience thinking that there couldn’t be anything funnier, but the chemistry and rapport between each and every cast member ensured that every single scene generated laughter, yet one never tired of the humour. The two hours of the performance flew by, and it certainly was, as in the script, an “engineered triumph.”

Composer Jeffrey Stock employs light, operatic sounds rather than typical musical brassy tones one might expect to hear. Making use of leitmotifs, the music adds familiarity to the melodies, with characters combining their own musical motifs in a cacophony of sound, highlighting the confusion and change in statuses.

The hilarity of the cast made every detail matter. Ghazal Azarbad and Matt Kennedy, even when singing about a single tree, made the audience fall in love with their two unfortunately adorable characters, and Cassandra Szabo, Charlotte Wright and Nathan Cottell made the perfect “mélange à trois” throughout. </em>

PHOTO VICTOR HOGREFE/THE UBYSSEY

This was the first year in many that UBC Theatre has performed a musical.

As a cast of actors, rather than a cast of singers, the musical aspects of Triumph of Love were strong. Full of demanding roles vocally, there were solid harmonies and dramatic finishes to songs. The quartet at the end of act one was reminiscent of Bernstein’s West Side Story , and helped by Kate De Lorme’s sound design the cast were certainly well-equipped to pull it off.

It is refreshing to see a piece of theatre which isn’t obviously trying to make you think. Of course, </em>

</em>

one can discover important social issues implied throughout the production, but the strong one-liners and puns, accompanied by Christopher King’s superb musical direction means that Triumph of Love is an ideal way to take time out of any real-world stresses and spend some time just for enjoyment.

“Penetrating logic and stimulating thought?” Triumph of Love certainly does both these things and more. Everything is present in the wonderfully hilarious <em>

</em>

<em>

script, and as an audience we don’t have to figure anything out — it’s all spelled out for us. Yet there are jokes every other line, keeping the audience in uproarious laughter.

You will want to listen to every word and catch every reaction onstage. If you miss anything, you’ll want to see this production again.

</

em>

Triumph of Love is playing until April 4 in the Frederic Wood Theatre . U </em>

EQUITY >>

UBC PLAYERS >>

Confronting eating disorders in Her Name was Mary Rule Out Racism week concludes with the The Value of Freedom: Academics VS. Expression panel Vicky Huang Contributor

PHOTO COURTESY SOO MIN PARK

There will only be one reading of Her Name was Mary.

Mikayla Uber Contributor

UBC Player’s Club will be tackling eating disorders in their next production Her Name was Mary.

The group will be performing a stage reading of the play on March 24. Written by UBC student Tai Grauman, it tells the true story of two friends, Amy and Mary, who are battling anorexia.

The performance, which is co-directed by Grauman and Soo Min Park, will focus on the power of the words being spoken, rather than elements of design. It will be followed by a talk back discussion with an executive from the Looking Glass, an eating disorder rehabilitation centre in Vancouver.

“Our goal is to start a conversation,” said Grauman. “We want

people to come and ask questions because the people on the panel know what they’re talking about.”

“Tai and I are talking about a lot of things that might take other people a little longer to bring up in their conversations,” said Min Park.

Different facets of eating disorders are explored in the play.

People who suffer from the disease often have names, or labels, for their disorder and speak to it like they would a friend. In the script, the main character’s disorders are personified into real people, called EDG and EDB. “We are talking about a vulnerability which made people bring up their own vulnerabilities,” said Min Park. “The process brought everyone involved a lot closer.”

The subject matter sparked conversations between cast mem-

bers during rehearsals. Many of them had experienced struggles with their own body image and could easily relate to feeling either “too skinny” or “too fat.”

For Grauman, it was incredible to see how the disorder had affected so many people in the cast. “It’s an untraceable disease, yet at the same time it seems to spread like a cold,” said Grauman. “You having it could affect the people around you.”

“Somebody around you has experienced a form or part of an eating disorder,” said Min Park.

“This will open their eyes up and be able to see that around them.”

The reading of Her Name was Mary will begin at 6:30 p.m.

March 21 at the Dorothy Somerset Studio. Admission by donation. U </em>

</em>

Hosted by the Equity and Inclusion Office and sponsored by Access & Diversity and Human Resources, The Value of Freedom: Academics VS. Expression panel discussion was part of Rule Out Racism Week, aiming to cultivate intercultural fluency amongst the multicultural UBC population.

Held in recognition of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, the event sought to examine the intersection of academic freedom, personal expression and racism through series of moderated discussions.

“There’s work that can be done within the curriculum to encourage people to adopt different ways of thinking, and different ways of understanding. There’s work that can be done with clubs, societies and student organizations. There’s work that can be done to help our faculty understand how to include more intercultural approaches or transcultural approaches to their teaching and scholarship,” said Equity and Inclusion Associate Vice-President Sara-Jane Finlay.

When asked about the measures she would take in promoting intercultural awareness, Finlay said that, besides structural improvements, interpersonal emphasis could be a solution.

Panelist Urooba Jamal, fifth-year international relations student and co-founder of UBC’s alternative student press The Talon , expressed concerns that “white supremacy [is] being reproduced in classrooms.” </em>

“[My co-founders and I] wanted a space for [social justice] conversations to happen; we wanted the space to establish these necessary critiques that are being silenced and repressed.... Through The Talon , we have, hopefully, been able to create that forum on campus for those conversations that were obviously taking place ... having a centralized place where these different segments could come together and be presented to the student body, but also, at the same time, to invite those that aren’t thinking about these issues ... into the conversation.”

The panel discussion focused on race and racism and the responsibility academics have to be informed, academic and respectful.

“You know there’s responsibility when we speak, and so the responsibility to be respectful to those who are around us; there’s a responsibility to reflect on who we are, and the responsibility to recognize the complexity of issues — that it’s not simply an ‘us vs. them’ or ‘my issue is more important than your issue’ but [that these issues] are ... within a whole range of power differentials,” said Finlay.

The panel discussion struck a note of optimism about the prospects of race literacy, acknowledging that we have come a long way from being hushed at, to anger-driven discussions, to the present — when open dialogues are encouraged and people are more willing to share their histories and cultures to find their differences and commonalities, and eventually to build solidarity. U </em>

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015 |

STUDENT VOICE. COMMUNITY REACH.

LAST WORDS >>

9

ADVICE >>

Ask Natalie: On how to ask a roommate to live with you next year

We’re struggling to understand how it’s possible to spend $30,000 on a yearbook.

LAST WORDS

NATALIE MORRIS

PARTING SHOTS AND SNAP JUDGEMENTS FROM THE UBYSSEY EDITORIAL BOARD

The AMS is planning on spending $30,000 on a yearbook to mark their centennial.

As an editorial board of a newspaper we appreciate the importance of good documentation, but $30,000 is a hefty price tag for this kind of internal project. Granted, one third of that sum is coming out of the Administration’s Centennial Initiatives Fund, but another $20,000 is supposed to come from donors that the AMS has yet to find. Seeing as the project is already underway, let’s just hope that it remains cost-neutral for students as planned. Also, we can’t help but wonder for whom this project is intended. It certainly seems like a reach to say that it’s being geared towards the handful of students who know or care about what the AMS actually does.

From an observer’s perspective it honestly seems more like a way for the AMS to stroke its own ego.

For an organization that is already criticized for their disconnect from the student body, the centennial yearbook looks more like another step away from students, rather than a step towards them.

autism brings up a lot of questions and few answers. While hypothesizing about the dangers of vaccines brings up thoughts of pseudoscience, Jenny McCarthy and general bad science vibes, we also realize that we can’t discourage scientific research simply because we (and even the vast bulk of the scientific community) strongly disagree with the hypothesis. At its very core, the scientific process is all about challenging and testing current theories, often to the ridicule of others.

That said, sometimes the implications of conducting a study of this type spread out wider than rejection by the WHO. Even though Shaw himself firmly states that he is not anti-vaccination and just hopes to see if current alternatives are safe, a study that tries to find a link between vaccines and autism provides ammunition to thousands of anti-vaxxers who are looking for any scientific study that confirms their belief and ignoring the hordes of evidence that suggest the contrary. While we are not sure how this fine line can be walked, the dangers of feeding the anti-vaxxer fire and, in doing so, bringing back easily preventable diseases like measles are clear enough.

AUTISM RESEARCH WALKS A FINE LINE

GRADUATE STUDENT SOCIETY INDEPENDENCE

Christopher Shaw’s research on the aluminum in vaccines and

The Graduate Student Society is considering holding a referendum

YEARNING FOR GLITZY YEARBOOKS

ILLUSTRATION JULIAN YU/THE UBYSSEY

to become independent of the AMS, citing a lack of representation for their student population and the irrelevance of some services offered to their demographics.

While it may hold true that graduate students don’t join clubs as frequently as their undergraduate counterparts, we don’t feel that that’s reason enough to justify reducing fees or separating entirely. Plenty of people, undergraduate and graduate alike, can go through their entire UBC careers without ever joining a club — yet unless they live in complete isolation they still benefit from the atmosphere of a school that has some sort of social scene and culture beyond academics. It’s analogous to just about any other tax: you might be paying for someone else’s pension, or healthcare, or roads or any other number of things that you don’t use yourself — but it’s also a fee that’s essentially going toward improving your community and society.

This is all still in the early stages and the results of the GSS investigation into the matter are yet to be seen, but we hope that even if the report concludes that grad students do join clubs less frequently and don’t use services as much, the GSS will continue to view itself as an independent part of a larger community rather than breaking off entirely. U

Advice Columnist

“Natalie,

<strong>

How do I ask my roommate if she wants to live together next year? I think we get along great, but she hasn’t brought the idea up.”

I love questions with simple answers.

You say, “Hey roommate, I think we get along great — what do you think about living together next year?”

If she says yes, buy some celebratory wine and enjoy the adult life.

If she says no, don’t take it personally (unless of course, she makes it personal: then buy some wine anyway and be thankful you don’t have to live with them again. Also remember that outfit they wore that one time. It looked so bad. I mean, come on, you didn’t want to live with them anyway.)

But if they were decent and just said sorry but they’re rooming with their study group, or aunt, or whoever, don’t take it to heart. You can get along great, but that doesn’t mean you’re great roommates. You can be great friends and have perfect

schedules that complement each other and never get in each others’ way, but that still doesn’t make you ideal roommates.

Maybe you like to chat about your day (I know I do) but your roommate just wants to sit in silence for an hour after class.

Maybe you love, love, love tuna sandwiches but your roommate just wants to hurl every time you crack a can open.

Living together means spending a huge amount of time together and that can lead to people only seeing your weird habits you might not even realize they hate.

Take myself for example, I have three amazing roommates and I’ve never once had an argument with any of them. We get along fine and chat when we see each other, but does that mean I’m going to live with them all next year? No. They’re great, but no. I’m sure they feel the same way about me.

They probably hate that I run the dishwasher at night (peak hours people) and that I watch television when I bake, which is often. That doesn’t mean they hate me (or at least I hope it doesn’t) but it could be enough to make them look for a new roomie for next year.

What I’m saying is if your roommate passes on a chance to live with you again, then that’s their loss. Clearly you’re a great roommate and decent person, if a little insecure, so your next roommate might be an even better fit. Who knows your next roommate could be your one true best friend.

Finally, as a general reminder, you don’t need to be good friends with your roommate to be a good roommate.

Need advice? Write to Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ ubyssey.ca and have your questions answered in an upcoming issue of The Ubyssey. U

We need to talk about BDS: yes/no isn’t the way to go VIET VU Letter

On Monday, March 23, 2015, voting for the BDS referendum will be open to all UBC students. Let me open by saying that I’m not here to convince you to vote yes or no to the referendum. Israel — Palestine conflict is a very convoluted and complex issue and it is not my intention nor in my expertise to talk about it. What I’m going to comment on is the kind of atmosphere this referendum has created on campus.

The AMS Constitution Section 2e states that one of the AMS’s missions is to promote unity and goodwill amongst its members.

Unfortunately, in a university of more than 45,000 students, disagreements are bound to happen.

Throughout my career at UBC, I have encountered many of those disagreements both personally and professionally. The AMS has always acted as a mediator, providing services such as the ombud-

sperson’s office to resolve these conflicts. That’s how conflicts are solved, through mediators and conversations — not through asking students to take a stance on an issue many don’t feel comfortable taking a stance on.

Regardless of what one thinks about this referendum, it is undeniable that this has created one of the largest instances of tension ever seen between various student groups at UBC. There are moments when I truly felt uncomfortable being in the middle of a BDS discussion; I can’t bring myself to fathom how uncomfortable it must have been for individuals on both sides of the discussion at that moment.

This referendum does not offer a win-win situation from the way the “yes” and the “no” campaign is being run. Regardless of the outcome, it will leave one or more student groups unhappy, angry and even feeling unsafe.

I am not trying to convince you on how you should vote in this referendum. I am asking all

those who have been fighting passionately for either side of this referendum to be respectful. It is so easy to blame the other party when a discussion goes awry and believe that you know all the facts when the others don’t. It is much harder to come back to those discussions, admitting that both of you are imperfect and that talking to each other is better than not talking at all. It’s something that I’m still continuously learning but it is something that works. If it fails the first time, try again. Try until it works.

Do I appreciate the passion that so many have put in to a cause that they care so much about?

Absolutely. Do I think that this passion has been used in the right manner on both sides? Not yet.

We all have the same university to call our Alma Mater. Let’s make sure that we facilitate productive discussions and goodwill amongst its members.

Viet Vu is president of VSEUS and a fourth-year economics student. U

...you fill in the blanks.

Learn how to design, write, edit, and create print and web publications in one year.

Apply now. Start in September.

Info sessions: March 25 and April 29, 6-8pm www.langara.bc.ca/publishing

10 | SPORTS |

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

BASEBALL >>

Thunderbirds split home opener vs. Coyotes

Defensive doubleheader sees UBC shut out College of Idaho 1-0, then fall 3-1

The ‘Birds averaged a strikeout per inning in their first home game of the season.

Bill Situ Staff Writer Coming off a successful sweep of the Simpson University Redhawks in California, the UBC Thunderbirds baseball team kicked off their home opener against the College of

Idaho Coyotes with a win and a loss, taking a 1-0 victory in the first game and dropping the second by a score of 3-1.

Although the Thunderbirds only managed one run in the first game, they were bolstered by an impressive performance by their pitcher,

PHOTO CHERIHAN HASSUN/THE UBYSSEY

Conor Lillis-White. Lillis-White earned a total of eight strikeouts in the eight innings that he pitched for.

“He was an all-region pitcher last year for us; one of the best guys in the entire NAIA,” said head coach Terry McKaig. “We’ve seen many performances like that by Conor.”

The only run the T-Birds scored in the first game was by designated hitter Brody Hawkins in the second inning. Second baseman Justin Orton got the RBI as Hawkins scored.

While UBC only won by a small margin over the Coyotes in the first game, they did achieve 10 hits, in comparison to the Coyotes’ three.

In the second game, it took until the fifth inning for the Thunderbirds to take an 1-0 lead with a run scored by third baseman Kevin Biro off the bat of centre fielder Bryan Arthur. However, just as the home team was looking to shutout the Coyotes for the second time, they fell prey to a flurry of three consecutive runs in the top of the ninth.

Pitcher Tyler Gillies consecutively walked the Coyotes’ Zach Fabricius and Troy Carr, both times as the bases were loaded, which resulted in two runs for Idaho. Brad Smith then replaced Gillies as pitcher, only to walk a third Coyotes player, Brady Mooney. The Thunderbirds were unable to respond.

Despite the T-Birds’ late-game defensive struggles, McKaig said his team’s inability to score runs was the more critical problem. “[Allowing three continuous runs] is never the way you want to do it, but the bigger problem in a day like today with 18 innings [is that the Thunderbirds] only scored two runs, and it’s tough to win a game when this is the case,” said McKaig.

Game 1

Sat / 1 P.M.

UBC

1

CID

0

Game 2

Sat / 4 P.M.

UBC

1

CID

3

Game 3

Sun / 11 A.M

UBC

4

CID

5

Game 4

To the right are the scores from the entire weekend, including the Sunday doubleheader. Check ubyssey.ca/sports for full, up-todate coverage of the games. U

Sun / 2 P.M.

UBC

5

CID

4

THUNDERBIRDS >>

T-BIRDS 5-ON-5

CHRIS HOWE

JULIE SHEPPARD

ANGUS TODD

Volleyball

Rowing

Rowing

FIONNUALA PIERSE Swimming

CAM FIRTH Baseball

ENTHUSIASTIC EXECS Marshall Eriksen from How I Met Your Mother, because he knows a burger is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread.

Daenerys Targaryen because I’m a natural born leader and I don’t take sh*t from nobody.

George Costanza. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.

Mindy Lahiri because her obsession with junk food is on par with mine. “I have the right to life, liberty and chicken wings.”

Alex Moran from Blue Mountain State. We share the same goals of living the college dream.

2. What’s the worst ‘executive decision’ you’ve ever made?

Deciding to wear a new blue shirt with jeans to a meeting. No one takes you seriously when you look like a smurf. True story.

Anytime I take the lead on navigation it tends to go poorly. I’m good at tricking people into thinking that I know where I’m going.

The last time I went to get my haircut, my barber asked me if I was happy with how he cut my hair. I said “ya” ... but it was like a six at best.

I accidentally ordered the wrong training suit size for some of the girls on the team last year.

Heading to Pit Wednesdays on nights before midterms. “It’s only worth 25 per cent.”

3. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Rocky road bars from the Delly. No study sesh in Woodward is complete without one.

Ice cream and talking about boys. Oh and Settlers of Catan.

Sour Jujubes.

Chocolate! You can find chocolate stashes around my apartment for emergency use.

Standing on the Pit ramp sampling $3 T-Bird lagers. Correlation to #2?

I’d run as Bob the Spirit-Builder, on the platform to bring school spirit back to UBC in full overalls and beer hardhat.

I’m going to go with the cookie monster and my platform would be free cookies for UBC students.

I would run as Rain, and my platform would be to abolish umbrellas by 2016.

I would be Chris Howe, and my platform would be being a badass.

I’d make my pitch as a part-time student, part-time construction worker. I’d have the platform of “No more cranes on campus.”

Go to a varsity game.

Bring your friends, and have some fun showing off your blue and gold pride!

Athlete-only study space. I spend more time looking for a place to sit in Irving than I do getting anything done.

Any candidate who attempted to address the lack of recognition [UBC athletes face] would definitely get my vote.

Talking to us would be a good start.

Drop by individual practices and inform athletes that there is such a thing as the AMS Election!

1. What TV show character are you most like?

4. If you were a joke candidate in the AMS Elections, who would you be and what would be your platform?

5. What do you think future AMS candidates should do to get ‘the athlete vote’?

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

PHOTO JACK HAUEN/THE UBYSSEY

| SPORTS | 11

12 | GAMES |

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2015

PHOTO DANIEL CHOI/THE UBYSSEY

An acute view of Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.

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