2011.04.04

I fell on my neck... twice since 1918

ski team season wrap-up page 8

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ndp face tough go in Vancouver-Quadra Page 3

the ubyssey

APRIL 4, 2011 volume 92, number xliviii room 24, student union building published mondays and thursdays feedback@ubyssey.ca

Could summer school look this good?

UBC is in the first steps of examining a trimester system.

What could it mean for students?

Pages 6-7

2 / u b y s s e y. c a / e v e n t s / 2 0 11 . 0 4 . 0 4 april 04, 2011 volume xcii, no xliviii editorial

events

coordinating editor

ongoing events

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

Justin McElroy : coordinating@ubyssey.ca Arshy Mann : news@ubyssey.ca

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culture editors

Jonny Wakefield & Bryce Warnes : culture@ubyssey.ca

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Come in, pitch your idea to us and we will consider fully or partially funding your project.

• Every Monday, 11am in SUB 245 (second floor, north-east corner). For more info email resourcegroups.ams@gmail. com.

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contributors Miranda Martini Johnson Rae Amelia Rajala

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legal The Ubyssey is the official student newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published every Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all students are encouraged to participate.

Editorials are chosen and written by the Ubyssey staff. They are the expressed opinion of the staff, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Ubyssey Publications Society or the University of British Columbia. All editorial content appearing in The Ubyssey is the property of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Stories, opinions, photographs and artwork contained herein cannot be reproduced without the expressed, written permission of The Ubyssey Publications Society.

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The UBC Pottery Club is now selling their work at Sprouts and have donated some pieces in return for space. It brings a new addition to the Sprouts atmosphere and allows potters sp ac e to showc ase their pieces. • Mon–Fri, 9:30am– 4pm, Sprouts, SUB basement.

noon yoga $1 • Led by the UBC

Yoga Club—all skill levels are welcome. Bring your own mat and enjoy this invigorating session.

RSVP on the Facebook events page. • Tuesdays, 12–1pm, UBC Bookstore, $1.

monday, apr. 4 UBC CAMP 2 CAMPUS REFUGEE E V ENT • H a v e y o u e v e r

wondered how the 42 million people fleeing from conflict and war live? On Monday, April 4, a coalition of UBC student groups is putting on a daytime interactive display to show the work of MSF (Doctors Without Borders) in refugee camps. In the evening, MSF field worker Sharon Janzen will give an amazing talk on her experiences; workshops

and an expert panel on refugee r i g ht s issues will follow.

Delicious dinner and dessert will be served! • 9am– 4pm, SUB North Concourse, 5–10pm, Hillel House.

tuesday, apr. 5 afro-bra zilian suite • A journey through the African ro ot s of B r a zili a n mu s i c .

“Afro - Brazilian Suite” was composed by Juan Diego Diaz.

It is a five-movement piece inspired by samba, capoeira, sacred candomble rhythms, funk and jazz. Featuring UBC J az z Big Band Ensemble, Sambata, UBC Capoeira Angola Study Group, Anna Baignoche and Aquizamin Garcia. • 8–10pm, Roy Barnett Recital Hall, Music building. dr daniel vickers on prof talk •

On UBC CiTR Radio’s Prof Talk with host Farha Khan, Dr Daniel Vickers from the department of history will discuss the subject of history as a field of study as well as his research on early America, and the social history of seafaring, work and economic culture. • 3pm, live programming at citr.ca.

wednesday, apr. 6 my neighbor, my killer • My

Neighbor, My Killer is an award winning documentary film by Anne Aghion on the gacaca justice in Rwanda. Literally meaning “justice on the grass,” gacaca is a form of citizenbased transitional justice which Rwandans decided to put into place in an attempt to deal with the crimes of the 1994 genocide. • 5–9pm, Liu Institute for Global Issues, reception to follow.

hadani ditmars public lecture on ir aq and libya • On the

eighth anniversar y of the invasion of Iraq, journalist and

author Hadani Ditmars looks at regional unrest and examines the legacies of bombing in the name of peace and democracy.

With special guest Jane Kokan, founding Frontline club member and producer of For the Love of the Leader: Libya. • 12:30– 1:30pm, Main lecture hall, UBC School of Journalism, go to hadaniditmars.com for more information.

thursday, apr. 7 ams block party • The AMS Block Party is an event by UBC students, for UBC students and the campus community that brings students and friends together in a celebration of a year completed and a summer soon to start. This year’s bands include Switch, Felix Cartal, Rye Rye, Team Canada DJ’s and My!Gay!Husband! • 19+ event, 2–8pm, MacInnes Field, $15 at the Outpost starting Apr. 4, go to amsblockparty.com for more information.

friday, apr. 8 capture the flag tournament • Team Up 4 Kids is throwing

their first event as a club to raise money for Success By 6, an early childhood development initiative dedicated to providing all children with a good start in life. Come out to play some capture the flag in order to raise money for a good cause! Prizes for the top team, other activities on the side while you’re waiting to play and it’ll be lots of fun!

• Register by Apr. 6, 12–3pm, UBC Campus, $40 team (6–10 people), $5 individual, email info@teamup4kids-ubc.com for more information.

saturday, apr. 9 D J S p o o k y i n T e r r a N o va : Sinfonia Antarctica • Paul D

Miller is highly regarded as a writer and conceptual artist,

though he is probably best known under the moniker of his constructed persona, “DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid.” His large scale multimedia work “Terra Nova: Sinfonia Antarctica,” is a meditation on global warming, translating Miller’s first person encounter w i t h t h e h a r sh , d y n a mi c landscape of Antarctica into visual and sonic portraits. In addition to video projections and DJ Spooky on turntables, the performance will also feature local chamber musicians on violin, cello and piano. • 8pm, Chan Centre, $25.25–$48.25, go to djspooky.com for more information.

Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fa ir • T his spring,

300 emerging scientists will gather at UBC for the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair. They will present and defend their projects in earth & environmental sciences, engineering & c omputing sciences, health sciences, life sciences, and physical & mathematical sciences. Up to 17 students will be chosen to join Team BC and compete in the Canada-Wide Science Fair, May 14–21, in Toronto, Ontario. The public and media are invited to view all the projects and talk to these enthusiastic young people.

• 9am–12pm, SUB Ballroom and Party Room.

tuesday, apr. 12 Quartet in Four Courses: An Ev ening of Music a l Dr a m a a n d C o n v e r s at i o n • T h i s

experimental evening will explore connections between a string quartet, a theatrical performance and a social event (a dinner party). The celebrated Borealis Quar tet will play Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1, with a staged reading of a short play

by Jonathan Wisenthal as a companion piece. • 8–9:30pm, Coach House, Green College, go to greencollege.ubc.ca for more information.

thursday, apr. 14 Co. ERASGA/Complot: EXpose • A powerful new full-length duet exploring sexuality, gender and identity, EXpose brings together two exceptional male solo artists: Vancouver’s own Alvin Erasga Tolentino, artistic direc tor of C o. ER A S G A , whose sophisticated works have toured around the world; and M ar tin Inthamoussú, a driving force in Uruguay’s contemporary dance scene.

These two charismatic performers seek to expose the complexity of the personal and public territories within the gay psyche, creating a spellbinding theatrical and physical dialogue.

• Apr. 14–16, 8pm, Scotiabank D a n c e C e ntre, $ 2 8 , $ 2 0 students/seniors, buy tickets at ticketstonight.ca.

saturday, apr. 16 f i l m s c r e e n i n g : Aa ki d eh •

‘Aakideh’ is an Ojibwe word meaning brave or brave-hearted.

Artist Carl Beam earned a reputation for being fearless, v isi o n ar y an d ul tim atel y, unforgettable. From his early years growing up on Manitoulin Island to his turbulent years spent at a residential school, this documentar y explores how these early experiences not only impacted Beam’s life but also his art. Screening time: 65 minutes. • 1pm, Museum of Anthropology, $14/$12 + HST.

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News

editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca assistant editor KALYEENA MAKORTOFF » kmakortoff@ubyssey.ca SENIOR WRITER MICKI COWAN » mcowan@ubyssey.ca

Tuition set to increase by 2%

NEWS BRIEFS

“Our votes really don’t matter,” said BoG representative Heisler

Micki Cowan mcowan@ubyssey.ca On Tuesday, the UBC Board of Governors (BoG) is expected to vote yes to another two per cent tuition increase.

Despite last month’s referendum where 8737 students voted in favour of the AMS lobbying for lower tuition, members of UBC’s finance committee noted that not a single UBC Vancouver student showed up to a UBC Vancouver consultation that was held to discuss the tuition increase, and only 24 students were present at the UBCOkanagan consultation.

Sean Heisler, a student BoG representative, said that after the lackluster attendance at consultations, students now have few options to counter the raise.

“If the student is concerned about tuition increases, there’s not a lot they can do to stop it,” he said.

Ashley Zarbatany, a second year political science and woman’s studies student, said that more consultations needed to be held.

“They did do one [consultation], but they basically sent out an email saying we’re raising tuition and didn’t give a chance for students to give input back.”

UBC will gather nearly $4 million more in revenues from the increase. Heisler explained UBC’s price index projects a three per cent increase to the cost of providing education this year.

“The university wants to justify it by saying two per cent

More money to Brock. josh curran Photo Illustration/The Ubyssey

doesn’t even cover the increased cost of providing education, and that’s where we’ll be looking towards the government, saying we need an increase in our funding to make up this extra one per cent,” he said.

Ben Glassco, UBC-O’s student representative, was the only member on the Board who voted against the increase. Both UBC Vancouver student representatives, Heisler and Azim Wazeer, abstained from the vote.

Heisler explained that even if faculty and staff voted against

the increase, it would have passed given the majority of external business members on the Board who are concerned about finances.

“A vote from a student as a position statement doesn’t actually do much. Our votes don’t really matter,” he said.

Tuesday, the question will be brought up again at the BoG meeting before the increase is officially approved. Zarbatany plans to show the university that students do care by organizing a rally to greet the BoG

representatives before they head into their meeting on Tuesday.

“We’re going have a bunch of signs up and hopefully we’re going to get students out,” she said, but was unsure of the turnout as the meeting starts at 8am.

“It’s hard to get students to come out and it’s short notice, so I don’t think that many students are going to show up this time. But we’re going to be doing this consistently from now on to try to build up momentum behind this.”

After speeches from UBC-O’s student union stating that tuition increases are unacceptable, the finance committee agreed to put together a strategic committee.

The strategic committee will explore financial assistance for students who need help.

“If my dad has tons of money and it’s funding my education, I don’t care about tuition,” said Heisler.

“An ultimate goal...is to take that money and funnel it into student aid for people who actually do need it.”

Glassco said that the committee reached a consensus on what needs to be done in the future, stating that as a public institution, it is the government’s responsibility to provide funds for students to attend UBC. “We must push even further under these circumstances, with both the provincial and federal government to look into more funding for school, post-secondary education, as well as loan and grant programs that are better for students.” U

UBC’s NDP candidate looking “long-term” jonny wakefield culture@ubyssey.ca Victor Elkins is no stranger to challenge. A long time activist with the hospital workers’ union and an organizer with the NDP, Elkins is used to uphill struggles.

“As a union member, it’s in our blood to get out there and fight,” he told The Ubyssey.

Fight though he may, it will take a miracle—or an unprecedented student turnout—for the residents of Vancouver Quadra to give him a seat in the House of Commons. Elkins is making his first foray into federal politics with a run in the historically centrist riding that contains UBC. In the 2008 Federal election, the New Democrats finished behind even the Green Party with just 8.1 per cent of the vote.

“I don’t believe in just parachuting [into a riding],” said Elkins. “I’m looking at this as a long-term building prospect for the NDP in the riding.”

One step in this project is reaching out to UBC students as a base of support, said Elkins.

His campaign has been working with New Democrats on campus to get out the youth vote.

“We’re here [to act] as a resource for people who want to get involved with the NDP and volunteer on local campaigns,” said UBC Young NDP president Tim Chu. Both Elkins and Chu said that student debt relief forms the foundation on the NDP’s postsecondary platform.

In March, NDP post-secondary critic Niki Ashton proposed the Post-Secondary Education Act to the House of Commons, which would create a federal transfer dedicated to post-secondary education.

“Federal transfers for postsecondary education as a percentage of GDP have fallen by one half since the liberal government in the mid-1990s,” said Ashton.

“And average undergraduate tuition has tripled since the early 90s. Universities and colleges are left to choose between raising tuition fees and sacrificing quality.”

The NDP is skeptical of the Liberals’ post-secondary plan, which would eliminate two federal tax credits aimed at higher education and replace them with up to a $4000 grant for each Canadian high school student going into university. The total cost

The NDP’s Victor Elkins at UBC. geoff lister Photo/The Ubyssey

of the program is expected to be around $1.45 billion.

“If tuition goes up by $1000 at the same time you are receiving the $1000, you are no further ahead,” said NDP leader Jack Layton, adding, “The key thing you have to do with education is get the costs down and hold those costs from rising.” He said the NDP plan would ensure stable tuition costs across the country.

Elkins has a personal interest in improving access

to education. He put himself through a Bachelor of Science at the University of Alberta, where he struggled to keep his head above water. He has also raised five foster children, and worries about their ability to pay for university.

“The chances of them getting to university are—with the limited income they and their families have—next to nil,” he said.

“My goal is to make [education] affordable.” U

UBC rapid transit consultations continue The UBC Rapid Transit Study is transitioning into its second phase, in which another round of consultations will focus on a review of preliminary designs of seven transit alternatives for the Broadway corridor and UBC, and their cost evaluations.

Phase one did not exclude any of the alternatives—one of which is extending the Millenium Line to campus. Evaluation results on forecasting models are based on assumptions about population, employment and student growth, and the ability of each alternative to cater to these demands.

Feedback from phase two, which began March 30 and will continue until April 22, will include thoughts on street-level, underground and elevated transit, lane placement, road space sharing, station locations and overall perception of phase one evaluations.

Community workshops will be held April 5 from 6-9pm at Kitsilano Secondary School and on April 6 from 6-9pm at the Tenth Avenue Alliance Church.

For those who cannot attend in person, an online webinar will be held Monday, April 4 from 7- 8pm. An online questionnaire is available on the Translink website.

Results from the input will be available to the public in late 2011/early 2012. are Acts of kindness contagious?

UBC Professor Karl Aquino found that reading about extreme acts of human goodness can make others more willing to help strangers and make people more virtuous overall.

The study was co-authored

by Brent McFerran, a University of Michigan assistant professor of marketing, and sought to find whether exposure to examples of “moral elevation” would increase the likelihood of people taking positive moral action.

Participants read two stories, one of which included an act of extreme kindness and the other a positive, light-hearted story.

Afterwards, people filled out questionnaires asking them to divide $10 between themselves and another unknown participant in another room.

Participants were found to share 24 per cent more on average after reading a story of uncommon goodness in comparison to a generally positive story.

This study suggests that people can be influenced to help strangers in far away places, and that media outlets could change society for the better if more attention was paid to positive stories.

4/u byssey.ca / nationa l/2011.04 .04

national Police break up student protest

Uvic students vote to leave cfs

courtesy of Megan Kamocki/The Martlet

‘No’ side organizer thinks fight isn’t over Over 2000 students protested rising tuition in Quebec. courtesy of Victor Tangerman/The Mcgill daily

Jacob Serebrin CUP Quebec Bureau Chief MONTREAL (CUP)—Five people were arrested after riot police shut down an anti-tuition increase protest in Montreal on Thursday.

One person was injured after protesters entered an office building downtown, but police said the injured woman was not a protester.

The protest remained peaceful for over three hours, as around 2000 demonstrators snaked their way through downtown Montreal. Throughout the march there was a heavy police presence, with officers on horseback and a provincial police helicopter overhead.

Clashes with police began around 4pm. As the majority of protesters were gathered outside Premier Jean Charest’s Montreal office, a small group of protesters entered the nearby offices of the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities (CREPUQ). The group, which represents administrators at all universities in the province, has come out in favour of the increase.

According to police, a woman who works in the building housing the CREPUQ offices suffered a fractured arm during a confrontation with protesters.

The protesters were upset with tuition increases proposed in Quebec’s provincial budget earlier this month. Protesters were also calling for free university education in Quebec.

On March 17, Quebec finance minister Raymond Bachand announced that university tuition fees would rise by $1625, over the next five years, beginning in 2012. Quebec currently has the lowest tuition fees in the country.

Police also scuffled with protesters in front of the building, with officers using pepper spray.

The main body of demonstrators soon moved in front of the office building.

Around 4:20pm, police ordered demonstrators to clear the street and move west. When a large number of protesters didn’t move, riot police charged the crowd. Police fired several stun grenades above the protesters. Police split the crowd into several smaller groups within a matter of minutes. At several

A news byline is the most famous you’ll ever be. arshy mann | news@ubyssey.ca

U theubyssey.ca

points, large crowds of onlookers gathered as riot police followed small groups of protesters on busy downtown streets.

Riot police began leaving the area before 5pm.

Police spokesperson Annie Lemieux said those arrested will face charges including assaulting a police officer and mischief.

She said several vehicles, including two police cars, were damaged during the protest.

The protest was organized by the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), a large Quebec student lobby group. The protest coincided with a one-day student strike, also organized by ASSÉ, at several French-language universities and CÉGEPs across the province. The strike was endorsed by 21 student associations, which represent a total of over 50,000 students.

“Already, too many students drop out for financial reasons.

What the government is proposing will aggravate this situation,” ASSÉ spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said in French. “This is unacceptable and we will fight for everyone to have access to education.”

Gemma Karstens-Smith The Martlet (UVic) VICTORIA (CUP) — Referendum results are in, and students at the University of Victoria voted in favour of their students’ society severing ties with The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), Canada’s largest student lobby group.

Karina Sangha, who led the No campaign, says she’s a “little bit shocked” by the results.

“I know we all worked really hard, but we were definitely outnumbered throughout the vast majority of the campaign,” she said. “The representatives of the Yes side were out in full force and had much larger numbers than we could ever achieve…we really spread the word through our networks and via word of mouth.”

James Coccola, the stu dents’ society chairperson, said the results are preliminary and will need to be verified by the referendum oversight committee, but 1361 students voted to continue UVic’s membership with the CFS, while 3255 voted to leave.

Sangha believes the Yes side’s campaign worked to the advantage of the No side.

“I feel like the Yes side also kind of shot themselves in the foot by aggressively campaigning,” she said. “I had people who were either not going to vote or who were voting ‘no’ just because they felt harassed and intimidated by some of the Yes side people.”

Voter turnout for the referendum was about 30 per cent, up from about 18 per cent in the UVSS elections in March. Sangha, who is currently a students’ society director-at-large, believes the high voter turnout is due in part to the fact that the referendum was a “simpler issue.”

“It was less political. It wasn’t people trying to sell themselves...it was more so just raising awareness about an important issue and I think people were very receptive to that. It was a very different kind of vote than what the campus sees very often.”

While Sangha says she’s excited by the results, she doesn’t believe the issue is over. She’s anticipating a lawsuit, possibly over whether or not the referendum applies to their membership in the CFS’s provincial component, CFS-British Columbia.

The CFS was not immediately available for comment.

Stick it to the man by writing with Mann!

Arhy mann | news@ubyssey.ca

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culture

editorS BRYCE WARNES & JONNY WAKEFIELD » culture@ubyssey.ca SENIOR WRITER GINNY MONACO » gmonaco@ubyssey.ca ILLUSTRATOR INDIANA JOEL » ijoel@ubyssey.ca

The comics cure

For the ill, graphic novels can be a source of catharsis comics with miranda martini

If you’ve sat in a clinic waiting room before, you’ve almost certainly seen a poster on the wall asking you to rate your pain based on scale from one to ten, with pictures to guide you. One will likely be a dopey, guileless grin, ten an exaggerated pout with big fat tears running down its face.

This system points to an interesting phenomenon: when it comes to describing pain and illness, our first instinct is to say it with pictures. Perhaps this could explain why the illness memoir has done so well in the form of comics. There’s something about being able to see, in pictures, someone’s experience of illness that’s almost like looking at a person under an x-ray. It makes the dim, slimy world inside us all suddenly and undeniably real.

“Somehow in the cartoon form, panel by panel, the absurdist part of this whole experience comes out in a way that it wouldn’t if I were just writing an essay,” said Miriam Engelberg in an interview with NPR. She should know. Engelberg’s groundbreaking graphic novel Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person opened up the genre when it came out in 2006, shattering notions in the medical community that a diagnosis of cancer (especially breast cancer) should have a transformative effect, making you kinder, braver, more spiritual.

Engelberg pulls no punches; her funny, caustic writing style and honest drawings opened up a dialogue of dissent, or at least doubt,

within the health advocacy community, and—more importantly— gave patients who had been suppressing feelings of shame and weakness their first mental x-ray.

There has also been a proliferation in recent years of graphic novels about the other side of pain caused by a major illness— the grief and confusion felt by people who are forced to watch a loved one get sick. UBC Creative Writing MFA alumna Sarah Leavitt turned her thesis project, a collection of sketches, notes and reflections documenting her mother’s premature decline and death, into the moving and terrifying Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother And Me, released last year.

When it comes to describing pain and illness, our first instinct is to say it with pictures.

While the physical health memoir flourishes, the mental health sector of graphic memoirs has only just started to put down some roots of its own. Most people are comfortable with the idea of the mentally ill artist, the Van Gogh figure shunned and tormented during their lifetime and celebrated as geniuses after their death.

This fetishized portrait of the “crazy but brilliant” mentally ill person denies the real mentally ill community the voice it deserves and—in a society where the mental illness is ghettoized within medicine and mainstream society alike—desperately needs.

In the last few years, a few books have begun to appear that address this need, depicting honestly the toll mental illness takes on the sick person, their family and the entire community. Clem and Olivier Martini’s

book Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness documents the Martini family’s experience with schizophrenia, from the authors’ younger brother Ben’s diagnosis as a teenager to Olivier’s own diagnosis and subsequent troubled relationship with Alberta’s mental health sector. (Full disclosure: Clem Martini is my dad, Olivier Martini is my uncle.) Although the main narrative is from Clem’s perspective, it’s Olivier’s drawings that bring the story to life, while also providing a unique narrative of their own. The drawings are disturbing, likely because they give a face—many faces, actually—to the hallucinations and anxieties that “normal” people, no matter how sympathetic they are, don’t ever have to see.

In one of her last entries on her LiveJournal before her passing in 2006, Engelberg thanks a fan for recommending the 1982 version of The Thing, then adds in parentheses, “The problem is—no movie is as scary as cancer.”

The books I’m talking about are scary. That is because it’s a scary feeling, witnessing what you’d rather not witness in yourself or people you love. It’s scary because my aunt battled cancer for a year.

Chances are someone close to you has as well. It’s scary because there is a history of schizophrenia in my family. These are roads we’d all rather not go down.

But the fact that Engelberg was able to stare it down, give it shape and voice, even laugh at it, might make it just a little bit less scary for someone else. For another patient, it might be the one thing that can open the closet and show that the monsters aren’t real, or are at least not as big as they were imagined to be. Comics might not be the best medicine for the loneliness and fear that illness can bring into a person’s life, but they are at least a powerful voice for hope, and that is—mercifully— highly contagious. U

Comics are an effective medium for illustrating illness . indiana joel illustration/The Ubyssey

U

Online exclusives

Video recap of UBC Theatre’s Brave New Play Rites, as well as an interview with Vancouver band Black Wizard @ ubyssey.ca/multimedia

6/ u bys s e y.c a / f e at u r e /2 011. 0 4 . 0 4

Students struggling to make their way through their degree. Students working long hours during the summer and part-time jobs throughout the year are a common at most Canadian universities—and UBC is no exception.

With unemployment on the rise and an extremely competitive summer job market, finding full-time work to pay for school is not easy. So why not get a part time job and take extra classes in the summer, consolidating your loan, which would lead to lower post-graduation debt?

For most students, this isn’t a viable possibility. With a limited selection of summer classes and a scheduling system that has shorter, more time-intensive courses, options are limited.

This may change soon, however. UBC administrators are considering changing the summer semester to more closely resemble the winter and fall. Rather than concentrating on making money in the summer, students could take courses that span the entire semester like any other term at UBC. Stanford, the University of Washington, Simon Fraser University and the University of Waterloo are some of the institutions that have decided to make fuller use of the summer term, dividing the year into three equal terms.

Melanie Lephan is one of those students working through school. Already through a first degree from a school in Ottawa that she paid for herself, she is struggling to pay for a three-year film diploma at UBC. After working full time and part time jobs for the last year and a half, she saved up enough money for rent this year.

For her, summer is an invaluable time to make money for the upcoming year.

“Those four months are really crucial. I need the down time to recover from being eight months in school and to save up money,” she said.

A revamped summer semester would mean that students like her could find work during other semesters. Professors would have more flexibility for when they want to do their research.

Businesses on campus would benefit from the higher traffic of students.

Residence spots wouldn’t sit idle and empty.

Schools like SFU prove that this model is possible—now, UBC is trying to figure out if it will work for its campus culture. There are still many issues to confront, including student loan conflicts, general inflexibility with other services on campus and hidden expenses making the switch requires.

What is a trimester and why should we care?

Switching to a full trimester system would mean that the school year would be broken down into three semesters: September to December, January to April and May to August. Each would have a large number of courses offered and students could, potentially, fast-track their degree into a three year program.

Sean Heisler, a student representative on the UBC Board of Governors, said the trimester option may be the best way to make use of the summer session. As it stands now, the summer session is operating significantly below capacity.

Heisler hopes that revamping the summer would help students streamline their degree while lessening their debt.

“If there are static courses you can take over the entire summer, you can find part-time work—you’re still making money, you’re still helping support yourself, but then you can also help expedite your education or take more interesting courses, whatever you prefer.”

Heisler currently sits on the Strategic Enrolment Management Committee, which was initiated by Provost and VP Academic David Farrar, and is tasked with discussing options for revamping the summer session. Aside from a full trimester system, the committee is also considering cleaning up the summer by making two distinct terms.

Heisler said that students don’t stay on campus in the summer due to the lack of consistency in the way classes are set up.

Aside from focusing on offering courses that are frequently failed, each course’s start- and end-dates are decided by the professor, leading to scheduling issues.

“The reason that students aren’t here is [because the university is] not providing a summer that works. If we fix summer semester we could have much better capacity—you’ll have a win-win-win.”

16 weeks

While Heisler may be in favour of the trimester system, the university is just entering discussions regarding the possible change. Paul Harrison, committee member and associate dean of student services for the Faculty of Science, said that the committee is primarily exploratory for now.

“The discussions that the provost has initiated are raising questions, looking at issues, looking at ideas for opportunities that might be manifested in summer if we did things a little differently,” said Harrison. “There are no endpoints at the moment or preconceived outcomes. It’s really raising questions.”

If SFU can do it...

Simon Fraser University (SFU) is an example of a university that utilizes the trimester system to its advantage. Jon Driver, provost and VP Academic at SFU, said that summer enrolment is at about 50 per cent, or approximately 10,000 students. He said that the trimester system provides flexibility to both students and professors. It also provides more choices for professors, who can choose any of the three semesters as their research term.

“It’s quite useful for people who actually do fieldwork for their research,” said Driver. “A biologist who needs to be in another part of the world in January and February can just schedule their courses in the summer and fall.”

He said the system is also very useful for students who are looking for jobs. “If a student wanted to a work for a semester they could look for work in the fall semester and schedule their courses in the summer and fall,” he said.

Jacqueline Chick, a UBC student who recently transferred from SFU, said she took advantage of courses offered in the summer to study part-time and work part-time. She is in favor of the switch.

“The first thing I thought when I signed up for classes at UBC is that I didn’t really like the yearly system, that I don’t have the option to take a random semester off.”

As an avid traveller, Chick liked the idea of reducing travel costs by flying during the non-summer semesters, which are the off-seasons for many travel

destinations. Waitlists are another problem she found were better under the SFU trimester system.

“At UBC, signing up for courses was difficult because some of the required courses you want would be immediately full,” said Chick. “You don’t have the option to choose them for another semester. That was a big part of my dislike towards the yearly system...you know that there is no opportunity to get into the class at all.”

A tough fit, but maybe that’s okay?

Students in some of the more strictly regulated programs at UBC may not be able to benefit from a revamped summer semester. For Lephan, taking off a semester other than the summer is not an option in the film program.

“September to December is when most of our films are being shot. If you’re not there, you’re going to be delayed another year,” she said. “For this program, it demands you to be there for that time.”

Hei sler sa id t h at t he proposa l wouldn’t necessarily affect specialized programs such as film production.

“It would more look at the larger groups—Arts, English, philosophy, economics, Science. Not to force people to use it if they don’t already, but to provide the option,” he said. “If you’re looking at elective courses or meeting science and math requirements, to have those courses much more strongly offered in the summer would allow people to then free up their time in the school year to do more extracurricular [activities].”

Making better use of the summer would mean shorter waitlists in the fall. Heisler said that students who can stay over the summer will take courses that are harder to get into, reducing the waitlist for the next term. This also has the added bonus of making better use of space, reducing the need for new buildings for classes. Driver sees the summer semester as integral to accommodating the increasing number of students at SFU. “We simply could not accommodate all of our undergraduate students in the physical space that we have if we didn’t do the summer semester.”

16 we

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Matching up with Housing Making better use of the summer would match up with housing initiatives on campus as well.

“There is a trend in housing to move to year-round, which is encouraging or even forcing students to be here over the summer,” said Heisler. “So we really need to expand our academics so that students want to [be here], to make the two line up.”

The new Ponderosa Hub, which is expected to be completed by 2015, is one residence building that will be adopting the year-round lease system. Harrison said that has figured into the planning committee’s discussions as well.

“Part of the model for the hubs is to have the beds year-round, so what are we going to be offering people in the summer if they want to have those beds?” he said.

Could this be a childcare solution?

Childcare could also be an area of benefit for students or professor couples who are both at the university, as they could stagger their term off to look after their children. Unfortunately, the current childcare system is not designed for a drastic switch. With the current system, most students and faculty keep their children in the program year round, even during research terms.

“Depending on what research they’re doing, the [parents] still tend to need childcare,” said Darcelle Cottons, director of childcare at UBC. “There is either somebody in the space paying for it or the space is empty. We can’t have any space empty; it would be like keeping an apartment open. The cost still exists even if the people opt out.”

Opting out for a term is not encouraged, as families would be placed at the end of the waitlist, which is at times up to two years long.

But the system may have the ability to adapt to fit the trimester system if it is put in place. Cottons said that the current system of childcare is not how it always was.

“When I started working here twenty years ago, we used to have a lot of

eeks

turnover with student parents opting out for the summer.”

Now, however, t hat demand has changed. “[The parents] said that they didn’t need anything cut back for the summer. In fact, when we did it we negotiated a two-week closure for some of the centres,” said Cotton. “That’s all they thought they could manage...It’s possible to be somewhat flexible, but it would take a culture change for us,” she said.

Philosophy professor Christina Hendricks has a son enrolled in the childcare system.

“The situation of the childcare waitlists, not just UBC but all around Vancouver, are such that you would not want to pull your child out of childcare because then you would have to get back on a waitlist and wait at least a year, often two, to get back in.”

She was skeptical of the benefits of the trimester system for childcare. “I don’t think it would make any difference, at least not with the situation we have in Vancouver right now,” she said. flexibility and bustle While Hendricks was critical of possible improvements she would see in childcare, she was excited about its potential for teaching, especially with the possibility of spreading out her teaching load across all three terms. “I have a fairly high teaching load, and doing all of it in one term is quite a lot,” she said.

Having a more active campus yearround was also attractive to her.

“I live on campus, and the campus just dies in the summer. A lot of the cafés aren’t open anymore; it’s hard to find a cup of coffee,” she said. “There are a lot of reasons why you would want to utilize the space more efficiently throughout the year.”

Heisler said that with more people on campus, more businesses could stay open as long as it was feasible. With declining revenue plaguing many AMS businesses, this may be a way to have four extra months of money coming in.

The AMS has to close many of its businesses, such as the Gallery Lounge, during the summer because of reduced demand.

Residence buildings, which often sit empty unless booked out by the occasional conference, would also benefit from receiving rent revenue year-round.

But what of the cost?

With all of these opportunities, why has t he switch not yet been made?

There are a number of possible flaws in a UBC version of the trimester system. Both Stanford and the University of Washington, for example, use a system that operates on three 11-week semesters, with June and July off. UBC’s system would plug right through the year with three 15-week terms, and no summer break—unless you chose to take one of the semesters off. One of the concerns of this is the effects it may have on student stress or depression, already a significant problem at a commuter campus such as UBC. The switch to an 11-week program would require a lot of paperwork and change of classes, but would also provide a mandatory two-month break for July and August, eliminating some of the stress of continuous studies. Students could still fast track their degree, but would be able to take a short vacation.

It’s clear why the university would choose the 16-week program, though.

They wouldn’t have to adapt current class schedules from September through April. Courses would consist of the same amount of credit hours as other universities, maintaining an easy transfer credit system.

“It’s established in our university’s bones [to have 16-week terms]. To change something like that would be nearly impossible,” said Heisler.

Hiring extra sessional lecturers to teach classes would be an increased cost, although it might be balanced by tuition revenues from the summer. Driver said that operating a trimester system like SFU can be more expensive.

“We do three intakes a year and we have to keep all of the university offices and facilities open throughout the whole year.” SFU accepts new students in May, September, and January.

UBC currently keeps all of its administrative offices throughout the

16 weeks

summer at regular hours. Harrison said that the offices focus on different areas throughout the year, which means there is demand year round.

“In summer we’re preparing for the next group of students, new admits, and there are certain activities that happen there that refocus time,” he said. “If there are fewer current students needing advising, for example, there are new students, so you can’t cut back on those services.”

Harrison also has concerns with restrictions that students on student loans may be held to.

“The student loan regulations are not set by the university, but by the government. They, at the moment, seem to limit the flexibility students have for taking courses over summer because you have to have [a certain] amount of credits within a certain number of weeks, and you can’t have more than a certain number of days’ break between courses. It’s quite complex,” he said. “We need to learn more about it.”

Questions and considerations to come There are numerous considerations that the university’s Strategic Enrolment Planning Committee will be looking into in the coming months.

“Then departments have to see—can they manage to offer more courses in the summer, and what does that do to winter enrolments? Students may simply need the money to work to make the money to pay for the next session,” said Harrison. “Laboratories need to be refurbished, equipment repaired; you can’t offer everything all the time.”

With so many important issues to consider regarding the summer session, the university will have its hands full. It is unlikely that students like Lephan, working t hrough t heir degree, will have the option of fast-tracking through the summer in the coming year.

But with the sheer size and capacity of the university, not making effective use of this space for one third of a year seems like a waste. The trimester system may yet prove to be the best way to rectify that. U

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sports

editor MARIE VONDRACEK » sports@ubyssey.ca

Ski team ends another dominating season Under-supported athletic program continues to excel in the Northwest Mike dickson midckson@ubyssey.ca Despite lacking the elite support structure afforded most varsity squads, the UBC ski team put forth elite results all year long.

“This was our best season since at least four to five years ago,” said UBC ski team studentcoach Ben Millar.

“We’re competing against teams that are fully funded and fully coached, and our results just keep getting better.”

The team, which didn’t feature any cuts during its training camps, ploughed through the Northwest Conference, with the men winning every race they competed in to finish first and the women coming in at a close second.

The next step was regionals, held in Boise Basin, Idaho. Emma Beatty won the slalom despite a minor knee injury and standout rookie Mike Bisnaire took second in the giant slalom. The women’s squad took third overall and the men in close second behind Rocky Mountain College.

These performances meant the squad made it all the way to the nationals which were held from March 8-13 in at Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Qualifying for regionals is relatively easy; nationals takes another gear which we were fortunately able to find this year,” Millar said.

It was a gear they managed to find despite only training once

Training on Grouse Mountain to attain competitive perfection. Josh Curran Photo/The Ubyssey

a week at Grouse Mountain. The men’s squad finished third in the giant slalom, fourth in the slalom and ended up fifth overall by way of losing a tiebreaker.

The women’s squad, fuelled

by Beatty’s gutsy performance on a bad knee, finished seventh

in the giant slalom, ninth in the slalom and sixth overall.

“It was a great season; both teams put forth a great showing at nationals,” Millar said, adding “That we made it so far going up against teams with professional coaching and five

times the funding is a testament to our athletes.

“Bisnaire, Ben Middleton, Beatty and Amanda Driver were all fantastic this year. Bisnaire and Driver both being rookies bodes very well for our chances of returning to nationals next year.” U

bird droppings UBC Baseball battles in six matches over three days—one being an eighteen inning epic

The Thunderbirds (12-1) were given a scare in the first game of a six-game weekend homestand when they faced the 5-17 Corban College Warriors.

But UBC managed to pull out a pair of wins of 2-1, after which head coach Terry McKaig quickly diagnosed why his first-place UBC squad nearly lost the opener to a team that has failed to win a game in conference play.

“Our pitching has been good enough for us to win any ball game but our hitting has started to become a bit of a concern,” he said. “Luckily we’ve been doing enough to win games while we work on it and try to figure it out.”

Saturday, after dropping an 18-inning marathon by a single run in the morning, they bounced back to take the second game 5-0. UBC’s offence came out hitting and Brandon Kaye stoned the batters he faced with a complete game-shutout in the seven-inning affair.

Referring to the 18-inning epic, McKaig said, “That was not what either team needed or wanted given that we are playing six this weekend.

“The bright spot in game two was getting a good start with our hitting. That’s what we expect from Brandon—to do a good job, and he really did,” said McKaig.

“It was nice to see the guys swinging the bats better.”

On Sunday, UBC defeated the Warriors 8-1 and 5-2 in the final double-header. U

There will still be plenty of Thunderbirds soaring above their competition this summer. Write with us! marie vondracek | sports@ubyssey.ca

U theubyssey.ca

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‘Software engineer’ stays grounded Starting pitcher Eric Brown a leader on and off the mound

Brown at home in the park. geoff Lister photo/The Ubyssey

Mike Dickson m d i c k s o n @ u b y s s e y. c a “Eric Brown.” That was the response of the UBC Thunderbird Baseball coach Terry McKaig when asked who the team looks up to as a leader.

Leading by example, the star pitcher for the T-Birds has had a stellar performance this season.

McKaig notes that his success

has been the result of his 8890mph pitch.

“Brown’s probably been our most consistent guy and he has stepped up his game,” said McKaig.

“He wants to be leaned on heavily in the playoffs and pitch the big games. He’s shown he is up to that task.”

The Thu nder Bay, Ontario nat ive has a lso seen h is

Ea rned Ru n Avera ge (ER A) drop from 3.92 to 1.33 last year, good enough for t hird in the NAIA West. His opponents’ batt ing average a lso decreased from .270 to .181, good for second in the conference. Brown also has the impressive statistic of a 6–0 winloss record on the year. Three of t hose wins have come as complete solo games.

“I’m just focusing on mechanics right now. Increasing strength and decreasing inefficiencies [in my pitch],” said Brown. “Last year I started off well, pitching about as well as I have been this year.”

However, his performance slumped toward the end of last season. This year is different, he said, because he has been able to maintain his performance.

Brown, a six-foot, 22-yearold senior, pitched Friday for a win against the Corban College Warriors. That game was delayed four hours due to rain.

And this comes after the last weekend in Washington, where bad weather caused two games to be rescheduled to this weekend at UBC. On Saturday he was behind the mound working the radar gun and watching the Warriors beat the T-birds after a long 18-inning game.

“Watching [when you’re down] is always tough. I used to find it really hard, but it has gotten easier. I have a lot of trust in my teammates.”

Those teammates may look up to him, but they sure know how to bring him back to earth.

During a recent interview with The Vancouver Sun, he was described as looking “more like a software engineer than a staff bulldog.” The comment sparked jokes on the field.

“They haven’t let that one go yet,” he said, laughing. “[The Sun] caught me tired and with glasses on.”

The ‘sof t wa re en g i neer’ has a few goals for t he season. “Right now it’s trying to make the [NAIA] World Series,” he said. After that, it’s about the MLB draft. And much like other athletes in his position, he’s not picky, with no particular team in mind.

“I’ll take anything I can get,” he commented. U

10 / u b y s s e y. c a / g a m e s / 2 011 . 0 4 . 0 4

games & comics sudoku (medium)

comicmaster, by maria cirstea

sazaemon, by meiki shu

suscomic.com, by mike bround

solution

Submit your comics to our website at ubyssey.ca/volunteer/ submit-a-comic. virginie menard | production@ubyssey.ca

U theubyssey.ca

We’ve only got three issues left!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

And another year at university!

What will I do with myself?

justin mcelroy | coordinating@ubyssey.ca

U theubyssey.ca

2011.04.04/ubyssey.ca/opinions/11

opinions

do you care? WRITE US A LETTER » feedback@ubyssey.ca

editorial If we had a thousand dollars Alright, hands up: Who honestly believed that one month into the federal election, post-secondary education would be one of the most important issues?

Well, that’s exactly what happened. Thanks to the Liberals’ unveiling of their “Learning Passport” proposal, which would guarantee a $1000/ year grant to all university students (students from low-income families would get an extra $500 a year), all parties have to spend time debating university tuition, affordability and opportunity. Whatever your thoughts on the merits of Ignatieff’s proposal, this is a fantastic development—all too often the concerns of university students receive no national debate, mostly because we barely vote.

That being said, we strongly support the Learning Passport for a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that yes, students receiving solid, tangible financial support from the government as they attempt to get a degree and contribute to this country is a good thing. Some have argued that this will give provincial governments an excuse to raise tuition rates by $1000. But the same argument could be made anytime the government gives a tax break/credit to a large group—that’s the ebb and flow of a federal system.

Moreover, this will help the many students who don’t qualify for student loans, even though their parents can’t actually afford to help them. There are thousands of them each year, all with their own unique family situation that has screwed them over when it comes to getting financial support. With the Learning Passport, they get help for the first time.

Last, there is the criticism that this is a bribe.

Yes. It is. So are all tax breaks, tax credits, subsidies and everything else parties throw on the table during election season. The salient question is which bribes have the most direct benefit. On this, there is no question—the Learning Passport is a bold step in the right direction for making university more affordable for those with the desire to attend. hot town, summer in the city It’s inevitable that many students feel duped after they finish up their first year of UBC. Their first taste of the Point Grey campus likely came through a tour given by a bright-eyed silvertongued youth who walked you through sunny vistas and described the incredible opportunities that a world-class institution like UBC offers.

And after enrolling and spending a balmy, breezy September atop the Knoll and on Wreck Beach, the rain sets in. And those previously sunny—and empty—vistas are filled with puddles that resemble the Great Lakes, as graveyards of broken umbrellas sit rusting and columns of students march along in collective misery.

And so it is and has been for generations of UBC students. But now there’s a chance to change that.

Instead of being forced to take classes throughout the dreary Vancouver winters and then compete with hordes of their peers to find a summer job, students could opt to study in the summer— when UBC resembles something akin to the Elysian Fields—and work in the winter.

More than just enjoying the summer weather, a change to a trimester system would be a gamechanger for students. It provides flexibility—you could finish your degree earlier, or spend more time doing extra-curricular activities.

Even more importantly, it would completely change how this campus operates. More summer courses means more students living on campus, increasing revenues for businesses and giving the ghost town a bit of life.

More students on campus during the summer also hurts one of the university’s arguments for more market housing—namely that the campus is under-utilized for four months a year.

There’s potential for this to be the most substantive change for students since the U-Pass was established.

Right now, everything is still preliminary. But if students can start pushing and get their student society to start actively lobbying for some change, we might be able to make this dream into a bright and sunny reality. U

bryce warnes graphic/the ubyssey

perspective

UBC’s relationship with Goldcorp is sound Johnson Rae Perspective In the March 28 opinion piece titled “Goldcorp’s $5 million gift to UBC raises questions,” the author made several claims I suspected as being out of context. I would like to correct what I believe are some common misconceptions about mining practices & Canadian mining companies such as Goldcorp. As a student at the NBK Institute of Mining Engineering at UBC, we study the complex mechanical and chemical processes used to extract mineral commodities. Mining students are taught industry best practices, environmental ethics, tailings management, mine safety, aqueous geochemistry and, believe it or not, how impacted communities can best be compensated in an effective manner. One class is entirely focused on reviewing actual case histories, such as the San Martin Mine in Honduras, and determining effective ways to distribute compensation to locals.

I make no claim that mining is a zero-impact industry; in any industrial operation there is inevitably damage caused through land disruption, water usage and chemical reagents. However, as engineers we not only have a legal but also a moral responsibility to ensure these practices are made as least damaging as possible. We attempt to mitigate the impacts of tailings discharge and habitat destruction

by using proven, real life technologies and methods such as waste neutralization plants, tree and vegetation planting and local health & education programs. The majority of the public are blissfully unaware of how much work goes into meeting the rigorous safety and environmental standards required for Canadian mining companies.

In reality, the largest mining companies in the world have spent more money on rehabilitation and meeting safe discharge standards than every government, activist and facebook group combined, guaranteed.

It is claimed in Honduras, Goldcorp uses “massive sprinklers that spray cyanide into the air” which would “never be permitted in Canada.”

Taken out of context, this example manages to make a common practice appear super scary by dropping any logical reasoning for what is being done. Don’t you wonder what the economic incentive would be in blasting poisonous chemicals straight into the pristine rainforest? In reality, cyanidation is a well understood and highly regulated practice. A very low concentration of CN solution is dripped onto heap leach piles, collected in waterproof tanks, the gold extracted from solution and the remaining neutralized prior to water recirculation. Cyanidation actually saves quite a bit of money and energy, because rock does not need to be crushed nearly as fine

using massive ball mills. The sole reason it is not common in Canada is that CN leaching is only effective on specific deposit types, which we posses very few of in Canada.

The author argues that our new label as a “sustainable” school prohibits the acceptance of donations from companies that do not exhibit these values.

Mining is, by its nature, non-sustainable; there are finite amounts of minerals, and the extraction of them permanently removes these from the earth.

Boom. Not sustainable. Since the mining department at UBC relies heavily on donations from mining companies (including Goldcorp) to fund research in waste management, toxin neutralisation, environmental studies and updating old technologies, should these programs be cut solely because of where the money comes from?

Furthermore, the definition of sustainability is nebulous—would companies that supply the cyanide, such as 3M, fall into the same category as Goldcorp because they implicitly support them? Like an unsustainable arms dealer? What of the customers who happily buy the gold rings, steel cars, aluminum beers, tin cans and almost every modern product produced by mining companies?

yet make up almost two-thirds of people around the world who are seeking safety from armed conflict and violence today.

I encourage UBC students to recognize this issue and take action. Today is Refugee Rights Day in Canada and Friends of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in coalition with other UBC Clubs, will be holding Camp2Campus. Working to shed light on the realities that exits for displaced peoples and the crucial role MSF plays, this will be an opportunity for individuals to engage with the complexities of providing international service, while also fostering a sense of global citizenship and raising finance for MSF. Composed of daytime programming taking place at the SUB North Concourse as well as an evening event at Hillel House, the installation will present displays about

food and malnutrition, safety and human rights, clinics, shelter, water and sanitation in refugee camps. In the evening, there will be a keynote speech by Sharon Janzen, a field nurse for MSF. More information can be found at camp2campus.ca.

I encourage everyone to ask themselves: what if I were a refugee? Would I be safe? What would I eat? How would I find water? Would I have access to medical care? Where would I live?

On April 4, I hope many individuals will participate in Camp2Campus in pursuit of answering these questions. And on a broader note, I hope they will continue asking—until they have found the answers.

Respectfully, —Johnson Rae

letter today, refugee rights should be observed Dear Editor: Today, 42 million people have fled armed conflicts in search of safety. These individuals are children, women and men living in temporary shelters, camps or shanty towns, struggling to survive in new and often hostile environments.

Those who have sought refuge in another country are refugees, a status that entitles them to certain rights under international law. Currently, 16 million people have claimed such status.

Individuals seeking refuge within their own countries are officially regarded as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

There are currently 26 million IDPs. They have fewer rights than refugees,

Sincerely, —Nooran Paul

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