January 24, 2017

JANUARY 24, 2017 | VOLUME XCVIII | ISSUE XVIII PUBLISHING ALTERNATE FACTS SINCE 1918

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NEWS

CULTURE

OPINION

SCIENCE

SPORTS

Ono hires new advisor on China

The Free Speech Club in review

Where do all the cool people go?

You can’t handle hovering

5-on-5: Childhood campus

THE UBYSSEY

UBC’s ski teams lost their varsity status in 2014.

How did they bounce back? PAGE 6

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JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

YOUR GUIDE TO UBC EVENTS & PEOPLE

EVENTS

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OUR CAMPUS

Lina Castro aims to empower student well-being through Vice TUESDAY JANUARY 31 LET’S TALK 5 P.M. @ GALLERY 2.0 The SASC Healthier Masculinities Program invites you to their open-house discussion on health, wellness and gender.

DETAILS ONLINE

FEBRUARY 1-2 DESSERT YOUR RESOLUTIONS 6 P.M. @ BUCH. D Forget about school for an evening and gorge on amazing desserts by bakeries all across Vancouver.

MEMBERS $8 / NON-MEMBERS $12

OLAMIDE OLANIYAN

Lina Castro is aiming to make Vice an accessible and welcoming program for students looking to find balance.

Mischa Milne Staff Writer

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2 PANCAKE AND BOOZE ART SHOW 7 P.M. @ FORTUNE SOUND CLUB Enjoy free pancakes, body paint, lots of art and booze.

COVER $5

ON THE COVER ART BY Aiken Lao

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Email your event listings to printeditor@ubyssey.ca

U THE UBYSSEY

EDITORIAL

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JANUARY 24, 2017 | VOLUME XCVIII| ISSUE XVIII

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Lina Castro is the coordinator of Vice, a brand new AMS serVice that aims to help UBC students find a balance in their life regarding the use of alcohol, drugs and technology. The fourth-year behavioural neuroscience major and commerce minor has been working on the program — which officially launched last week — since summer 2016.

Vice has three main components: education and outreach, dialogue, and mentorship. Education and outreach volunteers aim to break down misconceptions about substance use and the amount that an average college student drinks or uses. Dialogue volunteers facilitate peer discussion sessions — a no-pressure environment for students to ask questions or talk about substance and technology use — while the mentorship program pairs students up with a volunteer that will help them create a plan to develop healthier habits or seek out other resources and continue to check in with them.

Castro aims to make Vice not only accessible, but welcoming.

“We’re not an abstinence-based serVice. We’re not your mom telling you not to do something,” she said.

The serVice will primarily target first-year students and collaborations with first-year residences have already been planned, but Castro believes that Vice can be beneficial to students of any age.

After serving for two years as the AMS mental health and well-

being commissioner, Castro wanted a more direct way to help students.

Under the VP Academic portfolio, she worked on policy initiatives and pushed for changes to support mental well-being. However, the nature of the work meant that it would be a long time before she saw those changes implemented.

“You don’t really get to see the impact of your work right away.

For example, a fall reading break, if it happens, won’t come about until after I graduate,” she said.

Once she was hired to work on Vice, she was given the task of determining whether or not the serVice was actually necessary to students. To do so, Castro spoke with various stakeholders on campus, from Counselling SerVices to the Wellness Centre, to figure out what gaps needed to be filled when it came to student wellbeing.

“This kind of serVice hasn’t existed before at UBC, and doesn’t exist at many other universities either. Paving out what this was going to look like was kind of a scary process — I felt like I was trying to feel my way around a dark room sometimes,” she said.

Castro sought input from other campus organizations and volunteers she hired about what kind of serVice Vice should become, which she said was integral to determining exactly what form the program would take.

“I myself am just a student, not a professional, so I made a conscious effort to speak with professionals ... but it was intimidating to make those final judgment calls and say what the serVice was actually going to look like.”

Student volunteers have a large role to play in turning Vice into a success. They receive training on general health literacy, stigmas around different substances, empathy-building, goal-setting and the resources that exist on and off campus, among other things.

“The most rewarding part has been working with the volunteers because they put so much time and effort into the serVice too. I was really touched by all the work they put into it. I feel like they put just as much work into it as I do,” she said.

In addition to her position with Vice and her workload as a student, Castro is also a senator for the university and was the president of her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, from December 2015 to December 2016. Although the workload was challenging, Castro said that being passionate about all the positions she held allowed her to stay healthy.

“I didn’t find myself dreading this job or dreading going to Senate meetings, because they were all things that I willingly took on.

Putting in all those hours is a lot easier when you actually care about the things that you’re doing,” she said.

As Vice gains momentum, Castro hopes that more students will become aware of it. With a framework established, she hopes that next year will see more collaboration with other groups on campus, more workshops and increased understanding of what the serVice does.

“Ultimately, my big goal would be that every student on campus feels like they have a place to go to explore that balance with alcohol, drugs and technology.” U

NEWS

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITORS SRUTHI TADEPALLI + SAMANTHA MCCABE

FINANCES //

Nearly all math textbooks are available online for free Julia Burnham Senior Staff Writer

UBC’s math department has been bringing their courses into the digital age by making the majority of course materials available online for free. The resources put online are a mixture of digital textbooks, homework software and open educational resources, which are on the rise at UBC. “Some of our online resources are open access in the sense that we have ample course notes that replace textbooks in a number of our courses. We’ve been working on all of our first-year courses over the years to do that,” said Dr. Mark Mac Lean, a math professor and president of the UBC Faculty Association. “It’s one thing if it’s a specialized course, it’s another thing if it’s calculus where there are dozens and dozens of effectively equivalent books.”

All of the first-year calculus courses except for MATH 105 have made the transition from textbooks to online course notes, but Dr. Eric Cytrynbaum, an associate math professor, believes that it won’t be long before 105 also makes the leap to online course notes.

However, having faculty take the leap from textbooks to online course notes has its challenges.

“There’s always a trade-off if

people are thinking of authoring their own work for the sake of a course or otherwise. You get some money out of authoring these books, but honestly, not a lot,” said Cytrynbaum. “When people replace number of sales by the number of universities that have adopted use of these things or the number of students that have used it, I think we’ll get measures for the impact of these type of publications that are just as meaningful and the distrust of these types of online numbers will disappear.”

The shift may also have some downsides for students.

“I think when you have a set of notes, they are more limited than a big textbook. It’s a much more slimmed down version of the explanation,” said Mac Lean. “For many students, that’s great — sort of clearer and to the point. For other students, they want to see more examples. They want to maybe have something that goes into some more depth in a different way.”

Alongside the digital course notes, most math courses utilize the online homework system WebWork, which is maintained by UBC’s Centre for Teaching and Learning Technology.

“Students are assigned homework on it and they login with their CWL, but it costs them nothing

Math majors are spending a lot less on their textbooks nowadays.

and it costs the university the upkeep of such a system,” said Mac Lean.

Despite the positive premise, Mac Lean admits that the system can be unforgiving and that “some people grumble about it.”

“I found that the online homework that we used to do always had problems with accepting answers, and it was really hard to know if you were plugging in the wrong answer or if the computer was wrong,” said Elizabeth Garvie, a second-year computer science and physics student.

Garvie also found the large 200 to 300-page PDF documents of course notes difficult to navigate, but still preferable to a $200 textbook.

“It’s possible that that’s a problem with an informal textbook that hasn’t

FILE DAVID ELOP

been reviewed as much and doesn’t have as slick a presentation, but I don’t think so,” said Cytrynbaum. “I think the issue is more to do with students skills at reading technical material.”

Leah Fischer, a second-year math student and Ubyssey volunteer, is very enthusiastic about the online resources and happy that the department is embracing the digital age.

“This semester, all of my profs have all of their resources online — I don’t have to buy one textbook,” said Fischer. “My back isn’t breaking as I’m walking to class and it’s also much more liberating because you feel like you aren’t spending an excessive amount of money on a course.” U

AMS club management software debuts to mixed reviews

Helen Zhou Staff Writer

The AMS has changed its club management software to Clubhouse after the end of its contract with the previous software, Orgsync. The new software will be more user-friendly and intuitive, according to Chris Scott, AMS VP Administration.

“What we were finding was that there was too high of a barrier to use Orgsync. It was all just kind of a mess,” he said. “What we were looking for was something you could use without logging in, something you could see and interact with, and

FILE SAM BARRINGER

also something that’s easier to find and navigate.”

Clubhouse is meant to solve these issues, but the switch was also motivated by a cost factor.

Orgsync costed the AMS about $40,000 a year, while Clubhouse will cost $12,000 the first year and a maximum of $18,000 in the years following.

The transition to the new software, which began in early January, hasn’t been completely smooth. While some have found the new software to be an improvement, others are frustrated with technical hiccups.

TRANSIT //

T. GEORGE MCBURNEY-LIN

CLUBHOUSE //

Some clubs are not happy with the new software.

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Amrit Toor, Model United Nations Students Association VP External, has had a positive first impression of Clubhouse.

“In terms of just adding members and organizing, I have found it a little bit more intuitive than Orgsync,” he said. “Overall, I think I’m happier with it than I was with Orgsync.”

However, on an r/UBC Reddit thread titled, “WTF is going on with the AMS?,” several users complained about issues with Clubhouse and the supposed “incompetence” of the AMS in managing clubs.

Some of the complaints include the fact that files on Orgsync have not been transferred over to Clubhouse, clubs needing to be re-approved in order to use the software and the out-of-date Treasurer’s Handbook.

“The AMS has completely gone downhill in the past 2–3 years in regards to club organization. So much incompetence especially around the time of the move from the old SUB to the Nest,” wrote Reddit user “cheapmondaay.”

In response to the thread, Scott said, “I can’t speak for the [Reddit] user, but I think we’re on our way to improving a lot of the things that he or she mentioned. Hopefully we can see that resolved over the next few months.”

Jake Larson, the IT manager of UBC Dance Club, has also had a negative experience with the new software, saying that even the first step of trying to register the club in Clubhouse was full of glitches.

“It kind of reminds me of Connect in a way in that it’s super bloated, has way too much stuff, really isn’t suited for what we actually need and in my opinion, is going to work in the exact same way that Orgsync did,” he said.

Larson expressed that while Clubhouse is more user-friendly than Orgsync, it’s still not userfriendly enough.

“I mean, I could totally be proven wrong. I’m not going to say it’s going to be the worst thing in the world, but I’m hesitant to say that it’ll be the proper fit for what the AMS wants,” he said.

Since the transition to the new software has begun, Scott, however, has said that the feedback the AMS has received has been generally positive.

“At all the training sessions that I did, I would ask, ‘Are you feeling good about this, okay about this or bad about this?’ And most people were in the ‘good,’ and the people who weren’t were in the middle of ‘meh’ and ‘good,’” said Scott.

“If there have been [any negative experiences], I’d encourage people to come let me know how I can better support them.”

Some of the problems people are having should be resolved as the Campus Wide Login (CWL) becomes fully integrated into Clubhouse, allowing new members to be registered easily. By January 22, the Clubhouse site’s form function should allow the club executives to start applying for funding and grants. U

The Skytrain is currently planned to stop short at Arbutus Street.

The Broadway Skytrain won’t come to UBC anytime soon Sophie Sutcliffe Senior Staff Writer

Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson announced the city’s plan for an extension of the Millennium Line at a press conference yesterday. The extension will begin at VCCClark Station and will run along Broadway, but will stop short of UBC at Arbutus Street.

While there had been some talk of extending the line all the way to UBC, Robertson said that Mayor’s Council’s 10-Year Vision did not include that possibility.

“Will rail eventually get to UBC? I’d say that’s probably a good chance,” said Translink CEO Kevin Desmond at the press conference. “When? I don’t know.

But for now, we need to get to Arbutus [and] relieve a lot of crowding on the bus service.”

According to Translink’s website, the extension will include six kilometres of track as well as six new underground stations. The track will run diagonally from VCC-Clark to Main and Broadway, where it will then run under Broadway until it ends at Arbutus. The 99 B-Line, currently the busiest bus route in North America, will continue to be the only way to get to UBC along Broadway after Arbutus.

“We’re now working with our partners to plan, design and develop business cases for the provincial and federal government,” reads Translink’s website. “If [these plans] are accepted and funding from all three levels of government is confirmed in 2017, construction could begin as early as 2019.”

Translink will have three open houses for the Broadway extension on January 28, January 31 and February 1. An online survey will also be open from January 23 to February 13.

At the same press conference, Surrey mayor Linda Hepner also announced her city’s plan for the creation of one of the two new planned LRT lines, the consultations for the first of which will begin January 24. U

4 | news | TUESDAY JANUARY 24, 2017 APPOINTMENT //

DENIM //

UBC participates in Sexual Assault Awareness Month Diana Oprescu Senior Staff Writer

Dr. Weihong Song.

COURTESY TREK MAGAZINE

Ono announces new senior advisor on China Hana Golightly Staff Writer

On January 16, UBC President Santa Ono announced the appointment of Julia Wagemakers as executive director in the Office of the President and Dr. Weihong Song as senior advisor to the president on China.

While the position of “senior advisor on China” is new to the Office of the President, Song has been advising on UBC’s academic relations with China since 2009.

Among other accolades, he played a role in the creation of the China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiatives, is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and is Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer’s disease, conducting research on drug development and the disease’s links to down syndrome.

According to a statement issued

by Ono, Song will have a role in “promoting UBC’s international strategy and collaboration with China.”

This role should prove to be a natural fit for Song. In 2011, he was awarded the government of China’s highest honour for foreign experts, the “Friendship Award,” and was selected to sit on the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2013.

Julia Wagemakers succeeds Herbert Rosengarten as executive director, who occupied the position from 2015 until now. With previous experience as deputy director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC Vancouver, she brings to the position her knowledge of policy development and business and government relations.

Before coming to UBC Vancouver, Wagemakers served as program manager and deputy director of the Great Lakes Commission in Michigan, following a position at the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Winnipeg.

Prior to his appointment as executive director, Rosengarten previously served as head of the UBC department of English, and is a professor emeritus in the department. Arriving at UBC in 1965, he has worked extensively as a UBC historian, co-authoring the book UBC: The First 100 Years.

Rosengarten leaves the position to continue his work on the Legacy Project, which will use videotaped interviews to create a history of UBC. U

This month, UBC is participating in Sexual Assault Awareness Month, an initiative meant to raise awareness for issues surrounding sexual assault. Both the university and the AMS’s Sexual Assault Support Center (SASC) has been holding events in order to educate the UBC community on consent and the impact assaults have on survivors.

“Changing the attitudes, the assumptions, and the competencies of all members of our campus community is critical to addressing sexual assault at UBC and in society at large,” said Janet Mee, director of Access and Diversity. “[UBC] defines itself as a community and as a series of communities, and so doing this kind of work is a critical component of shifting [rape] culture.”

The university has been participating in Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the past eight years, and is holding events throughout January.

“January 11, we hosted our Sexual Assault Awareness Month keynote, presented by Kim Katrin Milan, who explored the topics of consent and doing anti-violence work on campus. It was a really great event and we had over 140 people attend,” said Ashley Bentley, advisor for sexual assault intervention and prevention for UBC.

On January 18, Denim Day, UBC community members were encouraged to wear denim to show support in ending sexual assault on campus. Denim Day stickers were available at the Centre for Student Involvement and Careers, the SASC, and the Wellness Center.

“One of the other objectives of [Sexual Assault Awareness Month] is to try to draw members of our community into a conversation who otherwise maybe wouldn’t be part of this conversation. Lots of the [initiative’s] events are really popular with people who are passionate about this work, but we also want to engage the general campus community, so Denim Day is one of the ways that we do that,” said Mee. The SASC has also been an active participant in Sexual Assault Awareness Month. On January 11, the Centre held its first workshop of the month, which was led by Canadian author Amber Dawn. The event was “a process-based workshop on creative writing for personal reflection and self care,” said Shilo St. Cyr, manager of the SASC. “We had a huge turnout and it was full immediately.”

The same day, the SASC also held an event titled “Shades of Resistance: Healing through Art”, which St. Cyr explained was

YUKO FEDRAU

UBC has been participating in Sexual Assault Awareness Month for eight years.

“an evening of storytelling and community care that centered around the experience of survivors of racialized violence in all its forms.”

“I think it’s really important to bring any sort of awareness [to UBC] and to talk about sexual assault, and provide information around the fact that it happens here on campus and that it disproportionately affects marginalized communities,” said St. Cyr. “This is why the SASC took our direction around bringing awareness to the fact that [sexual violence] does disproportionately

affect marginalized communities because of multiple systems of oppression.”

On that theme, the SASC held an event titled “Race, Racialization, and Sexual Assault Workshop” on January 19 at the Nest.

“You can have all of the policies that you want in the world, or all of the procedures and protocols, but without people fundamentally understanding the origins of rape culture and how to be a respectful ally or active bystander, we’re really never going to address these issues,” said Mee. U

SUPPORT //

Tipping Point mental health movement to launch student-directed “labs”

Ji Youn Kim is the creator of the Tipping Point movement.

Diana Oprescu Senior Staff Writer

Ji Youn Kim, creator of the Tipping Point movement, is launching a self-development program called Tip Labs. The Tipping Point is a mental health initiative that encourages UBC and other post-secondary institutions to better support and accommodate students and their mental health, and the labs are developing directly out of this framework.

“This self-development program is based on the idea that success starts within,” said Kim. “You need to start working

on yourself first before you can really succeed in the real world.”

The Tip Labs are scheduled to launch sometime next month, and the launch event will be on January 28 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at City Hub Initiative located in downtown Vancouver.

Kim strives to create a “community-based, affordable selfdevelopment program” that will be founded on the three pillars of health and wellness, personal development, and professional development.

The Tip Lab program will be accepting 8 to 10 students in order for Kim to create personalized portfolios for each participant, in which their interests, strengths and

COURTESY JI YOUN KIM

learning tendencies will be outlined.

Classes are to take place once a week over the course of eight weeks, with each class being three hours long.

“I still really believe in postsecondary education — I just don’t think it prepares students well enough for the real world.

A lot of students graduate, and are overworked and in a lot of financial debt. I think this is really problematic. The goal is to make sure they feel more prepared.”

In regards to better preparing students, Kim will be exploring various topics throughout her eight-week program, each of which will adhere to one of the three main pillars. The first pillar, health and

wellness, will address “all types of health [such as] physical, mental, emotional and spiritual” with a slight emphasis on that of mental health.

The program’s second pillar of personal development will explore the idea of purpose, as Kim finds that “a lot of students are lost regarding what they want to do after graduation. I’m saying, let’s figure this out together before you invest thousands of dollars.”

The final pillar of professional development will connect Kim’s students to the many resources and mentors she has connected with since the creation of the original Tipping Point initiative.

Kim announced that BrainStation Vancouver, a technology school located in Yaletown, has agreed to provide her students with scholarships to their programs.

Aside from the Tip Labs, Kim will also be hosting Tip Talks, which will be monthly discussion groups beginning on February 1 at 6 p.m. in the Nest. The first Tip Talk will be exploring topics surrounding mental health identities.

“People’s relationships with their mental illness can be really difficult.

Is it just a part of my identity? Is it my entire identity, and what is the language you use when describing it? I want to create a safe space where you can talk about the depths of mental health,” said Kim. “I want to be able to discuss things like identity issues, trauma and suicide, because these things are happening whether or not we talk about them.” U

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY | news | 5 RECOGNITION //

Four faculty members appointed to Order of Canada over the last year

Dr. Dorothy Shaw is a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Moira Wyton Staff Writer

In the last year, four UBC faculty members have been appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Approximately 100 Canadians are inducted to the Order with each bi-annual round of appointments, which take place in December and June.

These recent appointments continue a strong presence in the Order of Canada for UBC faculty, with five faculty members having been appointed in the December 2015 intake alone.

Awarded by the Governor General after appointee recommendations are made by an advisory committee, the Order of Canada was created in 1967 to recognize Canadians who have demonstrated “outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.”

DR. JAN CHRISTILAW (CLINICAL PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY) “When they called to tell me that I had been appointed to the Order, I had to get them to repeat it,” said Dr. Jan Christilaw, a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UBC. “I was just so thrilled.”

As president of BC Women’s Hospital and an executive of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, Christilaw works to push a variety of issues surrounding women’s health to the top of the agenda in Canada’s healthcare system, including midwifery practice and the reduction of maternal mortality.

“Women’s health is so rich with opportunities and I think that’s why I’m so passionate,” said

Christilaw of her 35 years in her field. “I love working to see what happens within society when human rights, reproductive rights and clinical care are aligned.”

After her appointment as a member in December, Christilaw said she is looking forward to travelling to Ottawa this spring to be officially inducted by the Governor General.

“I’ve given a lot to the Canadian health care system … and now I feel that, on some level, that has been recognized,” said Christilaw. “I feel like my country is saying thank you.”

DR. DOROTHY SHAW (CLINICAL PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY) Immediately after Dr. Dorothy Shaw, a clinical professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, was notified that she had been appointed as an officer — the Order’s second-highest rank — the call dropped.

“I spent about 20 minutes frantically trying to find reception for my phone,” she said.

Shaw has focused her career on improving women’s and newborn health through international advocacy. In 2010, she was named Canada’s spokesperson for the G8/ G20 Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health.

“When women have access to family planning of their choosing, they have the ability to control their reproductive lives in a way that gives them the best health,” said Shaw, who also serves as the vice-president of medical affairs at BC Women’s Hospital. “We still have work to do [in Canada].”

Citing the intersection of social justice and women’s health as her work’s inspiration, Shaw stressed the importance of the work that still lies ahead for medical professionals.

WIKICOMMONS

“I didn’t do [my work] with any expectation of recognition … and I continue to do it because I believe in it,” said Shaw.

DR. MICHAEL CHARLES KLEIN (DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY PRACTICE) Before he had even completed his obstetrics rotation in medical school, Dr. Michael Charles Klein

had already delivered dozens of babies as a volunteer medical student in Ethiopia.

Klein, now a clinical professor in UBC’s department of family practice, credits his success working on newborn and maternal health to his experiences with traditional midwifery practices in Ethiopia.

He has since worked to legalize and make safe midwifery in British Columbia.

“As midwifery was becoming established, we wanted to study it and make sure that it was both safe and well-organized,” said Klein, who worked at both the BC Children’s and Women’s Hospitals for more than 10 years.

“I put together teams of nurses and doctors that attended the midwives’ births in the Women’s Hospital so that they could be legal, even before the legalization of midwifery in BC.” His appointment also recognizes his research contributions, notably for work that revealed and reduced the trauma involved in episiotomies — a once-routine procedure which involves a surgical cut to expedite childbirth.

However, as naturalized Canadians, the Order of Canada means something very different to Klein and his wife Bonnie Sherr Klein, a filmmaker and disability rights activist who received the Order of Canada in 2013.

“During the Vietnam war, every physician was drafted without exception … and I would not participate in the war,” said Klein, who deserted his position as captain in the US Military Medical Corps in 1967 and fled to Canada on an overnight flight to Montreal.

“We were embraced by Canada, both my wife and myself, as former Americans who escaped,” said Klein. “There’s something quite special about that to us.”

DR. ELAINE CARTY (DEPARTMENT OF MIDWIFERY) A professor emerita and the founding director of UBC’s midwifery program, Dr. Elaine Carty has focused her career on the integration of midwifery into prenatal and maternal clinical care.

Carty, who was unavailable for comment before time of publishing, was named a member of the Order of Canada “for her instrumental role in establishing professional midwifery care in British Columbia.”

Her research focuses on early postpartum discharge from hospital, women’s experiences of long-term antenatal hospitalization, resources for women with disabilities and the impact of drug advertising on women’s health. U

2016/2017 SEASON Make a Date with UBCOPERA February 2, 3, 4 // 7:30 p.m.

February 5 // 2:00 p.m.

Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Student single tickets $15 TICKETS HOTLINE: 604.822.6725 TICKETS ONLINE: UBCOPERATICKETS.COM

Eugene Onegin TCHAIKOVSKY

UBC School of Music 6361 Memorial Road Vancouver, BC www.music.ubc.ca

FEATURES

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

OUT IN THE COLD

HOW UBC’S SKI TEAMS WERE CUT OFF — AND HOW THEY BOUNCED BACK. WORDS OLAMIDE OLANIYAN & MIGUEL SANTA MARIA ART AIKEN LAO

T

HE SNOWBALL EFFECT In the late 2000s, UBC’s campus deliberated if it should abandon the CIS for greener pastures — the NCAA. Simon Fraser University could do it, so why not UBC? The rationale was that potential student-athletes were being drawn down south because of better competition and a more attractive scholarship structure, and so either the CIS needed to change or UBC needed to abandon ship. In the end, the debates came to nothing and UBC for the most part stayed put on this side of the border.

But in the wake of these campus-wide conversations came the idea that maybe the UBC’s sports structure needed to be revised. Stephen Toope, the UBC president at the time, announced a review of the UBC athletics department and an ensuing two year-long review process was kicked off.

When the dust settled in the spring of 2014, 24 of the original 29 varsity teams retained their status in some capacity, while five teams — the men’s and women’s Alpine ski teams, the men’s and women’s Nordic ski team and the women’s softball team — were reclassified as competitive clubs. The softball team appealed, sued the university and successfully regained their status, but for the other teams, their future was less certain.

Two teams that had a shared history would now be subjected to a shared fate.

THE STORM The first time Kayla Johnston heard about the review and realized it would be official was at her first time attending the Big Block banquet.

“It didn’t really feel real,” Johnston said.

Johnston was a member of the Alpine ski team who had joined in the fall of 2012. She learned that the review would take place over the course of the year and that the teams that were removed would have one year left as a varsity before being transitioned into a Thunderbird Sport Club (TSC). She became the coach of the team

in 2014 and transitioned them from a varsity team to competitive club status in their 2015/16 season.

According to Johnston, the Alpine ski team was already considered to be an unconventional varsity team to begin with. In Canada, varsity ski teams were unheard of.

“We were obviously one of the two teams that was kind of considered more unusual and that in Canada at least, Alpine and Nordic teams are normally not considered varsity, versus you go to the States [and] it’s a big thing down there,” said Johnston.

“Not so much up here.”

Skiing also wasn’t much of a spectator sport and the Alpine team raced most of their competitions in the United States. Their training facilities also were not located on campus, but rather at mountains like Grouse and Whistler.

Going into the review however, Johnston felt that the team had some strengths that evened out their odds.

The team regularly had a good showing at the United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association nationals (USCSA) and tended to place highly. They also had one of the smaller budgets amongst the varsity teams.

“I know in the grand scheme of things we did not make a major portion of the budget. It was more like the benefits that went along with it that really helped the teams,” said Johnston. For her, all things considered and with everything judged fairly, the team looked okay.

The team did not make it past the first and second stage of the review. Johnston remembers that the teams found out they had been cut just as they were headed into nationals that year. The Alpine team’s subsequent appeal was also unsuccessful.

“It was hard on the team because it was kind of like that attitude saying we weren’t good enough and were like, ‘There are teams here who are not going to nationals, you know?” she said.

The changes proposed by the review were to come into effect in September 2015, and then the team would start their year as a competitive club.

BOUNCING BACK In 2014, The Ubyssey followed up on the Nordic ski team several months after the sports review that year. For the most part, the team looked like they were taking the transition much better than one may think.

“We’ve always operated in the form of a competitive club,” said then-coach Robert Ragotte in an interview. “I don’t think it will be a big change for us.”

Fast forward to 2017, that sentiment still holds true for the Nordic ski team as part of the Thunderbirds Sports Club roster, according to its current club lead, Hannah Xavier. She joined the team during her first year in 2013 and is now the only member from prior to the review that remains — the results of which were entirely expected, according to her.

“As it came closer and closer to that decision-making process, we knew there was no way we would be kept as a team … we don’t have that kind of following that lot of bigger teams have. We were not surprised at all at the decision. It was expected.”

Not surprising indeed, as the team stands as the only university-level Nordic ski team in all of BC. The sport itself is a niche activity, according to Xavier. It’s common for her to come across peers who have little to no idea about the club. The expensive equipment and the travelling needed for competitions also intimidate them.

As a varsity, the Nordic team also didn’t enjoy the same amount of alumni sponsorship backing as other Thunderbirds teams had. This is not to say that there isn’t any alumni support whatsoever. These days, there are some former teammates that help out with either travel planning or carpooling.

Among them is Nico Petch, an applied sciences graduate who was part of the team from 2008 to 2013 and served as coach in his last few university years. Petch is also certain that not much of the dynamic was altered after the review’s end result. This was especially true since, according to him, the team had achieved varsity only just a few years before his tenure and even then, it was always a small group.

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JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY | Feature | 7

“[The review] didn’t really change what our team was. I’m not exactly sure what funding [the team] gets now, but I don’t think it’s much less than we did get,” he said. “We got very little funding as a varsity team compared to the other sports. It wasn’t surprising and it honestly didn’t change our operations that much.”

The change did still bring in some inconveniences, though. Although Xavier had only experienced the perks of a dedicated varsity gym and additional funding for two years, there was no denying their usefulness.

“When we use the varsity gym, we were able to go as a team and do strength altogether as a team. Now, you can’t fit 10 or 12 people in the Birdcoop except [for when the TSC] provides a separate time on Sundays for [club] athletes.”

That said, this still doesn’t hinder the team training that much, as they typically train more outside anyway. If anything, the most frustrating to deal with is the administrative work. This involves a lot more forms, budgeting, meetings and planning for Xavier than before.

“It’s a lot that we have to do and it definitely takes up a lot of time. I feel a lot of pressure to make sure that everything is done at the same time, and [being aware of ] everything that goes on the team,” she said.

“But I have some really good execs that have been on top of things and have been helping. And TSC is very supportive and helpful as well.”

The Alpine team also seems to have stabilized and settled down within their role as a competitive club.

Jen Boughner is in her second year with the team and her first year as an executive, dealing with finances as well as fundraising and alumni relations.

When she first messaged Johnston about joining the team earlier in 2015, the team was still in its varsity status. By September, it had fully transitioned into the TSC framework.

“When we came in September, the view was definitely 100 per cent shifted towards focusing on what we had with Thunderbird Sport Clubs and making it a great year. I think by the end of the summer, the decision about varsity had been finalized, and it was looking to just move on and work within the new model,” said Boughner.

Both Boughner and Johnston agree that getting cut off gave the team some more freedom, especially in regards to flexibility with their budget and spending.

An example of this is highlighted in their transport costs. Varsity athletes were not allowed to drive themselves to their competitions, and so had to hire

coach buses. The team can rent vehicles or make use of student vehicles to go to and from competitions.

So while the team has less funds, they are using their funds more for things that are useful and necessary. The team also has a vast network of alumni, ranging from the 1950s to a few years ago, who help with fundraising. In addition, most of their team aspirations could be pursued within the competitive club framework.

“Nothing changed in how we raced, so we still raced the same league at the same competitive level,” said Boughner.

“It’s just that how our budget was financed and the rules we had to follow with varsity versus TSC.”

“[The review] didn’t really change what our team was. I’m not exactly sure what funding [the team] gets now, but I don’t think it’s much less than we did get.”

- Nico Petch, club alumni and former coach COLD SHOULDER Given the context behind their varsity cut-off and the current circumstances of Nodic skiing, both Xavier and Petch don’t hold any ill feelings towards the university administration for their decision back in 2014. Xavier conceded that despite the team regularly participating in community races and national tournaments when they could afford to, a lot more than that was needed to stay varsity. Yet, both agreed that the review process itself should have been much better handled.

“The whole review itself was pretty disappointing. Most people acknowledged that it was a failure,” said Petch, who added that even if the final decision made sense, it felt halfhearted. “Our team and alpine skiing in particular were cut from varsity because their review failed, and they needed to make some changes to save face.”

Xavier also expressed her dissatisfaction towards Ashley Howard, the former director of UBC Athletics

who headed the review and was criticized for her lack of experience in varsity sports. “UBC brought in this brand-new person who didn’t have a history with athletics, and didn’t have a history with our sport or any of the sports,” she said. “[She explained] to us why we were cut. It was mostly because we didn’t have alumni backing and that’s hard to hear because we feel that what we do is important. But we also understood why.”

There was also some discontent about how the process was carried out in the Alpine team, particularly from former athletes who saw the process unfold and who saw the benefits that were taken away. Johnston mentioned that the team was told that there would be equal treatment between individual sports versus team sports and yet the only two varsity individual sports were cut. She also mentioned that the year-long process was not very efficient.

“The amount of money they spent on it would have funded our teams for the next century,“ she said.

ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE Whatever their feelings, what matters now for both teams is to look forward. As sports clubs, there are still plenty of potential opportunities to realize.

The Alpine team was very successful in their first year in club status. They hosted a training camp at Big White resort, several athletes placed highly in different competitions, and both the men’s and women’s teams qualified for nationals. To accomplish all of that with the reduced status gives the team some satisfaction.

“There isn’t really any talk about varsity because we are doing so well where we are right now,” said Boughner.

“Definitely that would still be a long-term goal for us, but I think to achieve that, we have to establish ourselves first.

Grow our team, grow our budget and then we’ll be able to really appeal in the future,” said Boughner.

“It’s definitely all in the radar.”

The Nordic team is already making use of partnerships with other Nordic skiing teams around BC, including that of the Hollyburn Nordic club on Cypress. Another goal is the ability to bring in more fresh-faced undergraduates to team, with Petch noting that the team used to be mostly made up of graduate students when he started. But now, Xavier is remedying that, regardless if students want to ski competitively or not.

“I’ve had a lot of people contact me that are like, ‘I really wanna train and ski with you guys, but don’t necessarily want to race’ … even though we are a competitive club, I don’t turn those people away. It’s a small community and I want that kind of dynamic. I still want to encourage that,” she said. U

CULTURE

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR SAMUEL DU BOIS

8

THE FREE SPEECH CLUB: A SAFE SPACE TO WHINE ABOUT SAFE SPACES Shelby Rogers Staff Writer

Since their founding, the non-AMS funded and unofficial UBC Free Speech Club has been a relevant and controversial topic of interest. On their official Facebook page, they describe themselves as “apolitical and committed to cultivating an open dialogue on campus, where arguments are made with wit and reason rather than rhetoric and personal attack. We cherish a diversity of opinions and seek to promote an open debate stage, where political correctness no longer holds sway.”

However, there is a notable contradiction between this official description and the club’s actions so far. Many of their social media posts and the events they’ve hosted have had a political angle that usually coincides with a conservative or right-wing perspective. Their actions show that they are less of a diverse group of people who share different opinions and host legitimate discussions, and more of a conservative echo-chamber that relies on derogatory jokes, comments and attempts to provoke people in order to “prove” their points.

Despite these past actions however, the group does have the potential to learn from their mistakes and behave more like a legitimate Free Speech Club.

Already some efforts can be seen to realize this.

MAKE CANADA GREAT AGAIN On November 8, the day of the United States election, the Free Speech club held an event outside of the Nest where they sold red hats bearing the slogan “Make Canada Great Again.” Their justification for doing this was to bring attention to the “minority opinions” of rightwing and centrist groups. The club’s intention in using “Make Canada Great Again” hats was, according to

the club’s communications officer, Cooper Asp, to try and generate political discussion. The method and innately political tone of this event went against their “apolitical” description, while also raising concerns about whether or not the club was actually for free speech or just for conservative speech.

On their official Facebook page, the admins called their demonstration a “performance piece with hats” after someone said that they were “just being assholes.”

The admin said that if it “irked” people, they “just have extra thin skin” because “sometimes being honest means being an asshole.” The post went on to say “oftentimes having open dialogues about serious issues requires being honest to an extreme.”

Then on November 30, the club held an event

protesting the AMS’s rejection of a men’s rights club outside of the Nest.

The AMS justified this rejection by stating that the proposed club was already too similar to a club that already exists on campus — the Healthier Masculinities club — and that adding another new club would cause too much strain on the student union. The Free Speech Club, however, saw this rejection as silencing non-feminist perspectives of masculinity.

SASSY CONSERVATIVE MEMES To witness the true nature of the club’s rhetoric, one need go no further than their online activity, which provides an uncensored look into the kinds of discussions that take place.

The club recently held a Reddit AMA, where Asp addressed some of the questions that many UBC students had. One question concerned the accusations that their club exists purely to be antiPC and to provoke other students.

The response admitted that “on the outside, their methods can appear that way, but are not intended to be like that.” Asp continued to say that “almost anyone who collides with us at the events will see that we’re there just to talk.”

However, Asp was previously quoted in another article as wanting

to “get a rise out of people” in order to generate political discussion.

There is clearly a great misalignment with what Asp is saying in different contexts — only bringing up more questions about the club’s intentions and goals.

Despite their claims of being apolitical, demonstrations of strong conservative views in their public social media posts and on-campus events are evident of the many hypocrisies that run throughout this club. To fully witness this in action, look no further than in their closed Facebook group, UBC Free Speech Club Discussions. This is a group that anyone can request to join online, but must be approved by an admin.

Nearly every single post in this group has to do with politics, whether it’s about American or Canadian political leaders, immigration, feminism, gender issues, race issues or protests (such as Black Lives Matter and Standing Rock). You’ll find it all in their extremely long feed.

Posts that stray away from politics usually have to do with fatshaming women or mocking people for not liking their club.

Notably, most of the discussions are filled with memes and derogatory jokes rather than legitimate debate or discussion.

Beyond these comments, there can still be intelligent discussion about sex and gender, gender’s social construction and the biological components of sexes.

To provide a good idea of what these posts are like, we’ve gone through their Facebook page and selected some that we believe best represent the kind of rhetoric that occurs here.

Those arranged on this page are a small selection of a larger catalogue, which will be published with the online version of the article. For the privacy of those in the group, we have hidden members’ names.

For example, in one comment a member says, “This group is finally turning into the right wing circlejerk I always dreamed it would be!”

Another post began just to make fun of a video titled “7 Struggles All Chubby Girls Can Relate To” and the women in it.

Another post began with the promise of discussing a major political issue in the United States right now (Standing Rock), but unfortunately has comments suggesting that the police “use real bullets next time.” The admin who wrote this even commented about wanting to kill protesters themself.

The quote from an admin in this post which says “use real bullets next time” goes against what he said just a few days before in the club’s Reddit AMA, where they said that the club was against opinions or stances that explicitly call for violence.

When Cooper Asp was asked about these two contradicting comments, he stood by his word.

Asp said the protesters were on private property and the police had every right to “put them down” because the protestors were essentially “terrorists.”

Asp was also caught in a lie when he said he was “furious” about the male symbol being placed on top of the cairn, when in reality he commented “so proud :)” in reference to the event.

Interestingly, another admin of this club made a post regarding the use of ad hominem (attacking someone directly as an argument), which contradicts itself entirely. In the post, they use the example of “calling someone a cuck as an evidence for an argument. Feel free to call people cucks as long as it’s not a basis to an argument.”

Although well-intentioned, this statement still contradicts the club’s perogative of using arguments that are “made with wit and reason rather than rhetoric and personal attack.”

In UBC Confessions post #2961, the author writes about being glad to live in a liberal place like Vancouver.

“I grew up in a really conservative town and I just realized how nice it is to be out especially when it’s such a non issue.”

In the comments section, Louis Jung and other members of the club made threatening comments such as, “Don’t worry, us conservatives are here too,” and “just you wait bud, we’re just hiding.”

There was also a recent comment thread discussing Hitler and the Holocaust. In it, there are two main people who argue that the events occurring in the Holocaust were either exaggerated to promote a certain agenda or did not happen at all. There are multiple people who stepped in to argue against them, but the two people arguing back mostly posted conspiracy theories from YouTube to support their arguments.

Cooper Asp argued that the comments were nonsense and that it’s impossible to deny that it happened. A Jewish member of the Free Speech Club approached Asp and asked if he or one of the other execs could do something about these people. Yet, “as much as [Asp and the execs] thought it was disgusting,” none of them thought it was right to kick them out as “it would be hypocritical of [the execs].

They have their opinions, they were trying to express their opinions.

Their opinions are crap, but that’s the point of free speech.”

THE FREE SPEECH CLUB VERSUS UBC NEEDS FEMINISM Afie Bo, the UBC Needs Feminism (UBCNF) admin, got involved in a discussion with members of the group about why some UBC Free Speech Club members were kicked out of the UBCNF Facebook group. She said she had gone into the discussion page to “clarify

the situation and explain why [the admins of UBCNF] run the page the way [they] do … as expected, the [public] response wasn’t positive.”

She did, however, receive a few private messages from members of the UBC Free Speech Discussion page who apologized for the behaviour of other group members.

One person even said that the way Bo was treated “changed his opinions on how the group is run,” saying that members of the Free Speech Club were not actually treating her respectfully like they said they would. Cooper Asp stated in an interview that he had no knowledge of what happened between Bo and other club members, and could not comment on the situation.

Another example of the club contradicting their intended support of free speech relates to Donald Trump, who many of the Free Speech club members strongly support.

“I have yet to actually see any of them really promote free speech,” said Bo. “A lot of them seem to support Trump, which is fine, but I haven’t seen any of them condemn Trump for wanting to jail flag burners. Flag burning is one of the most basic and historical ways of showing free speech and discontent with the government. It’s interesting to me that one very basic instance of Trump [discouraging freedom of speech and expression] is something they’re not going to speak out about.”

There is a major misalignment with how the club promotes and describes itself, and what they actually discuss and advocate for.

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY | culture | 9 Standing Rock – Continued from last page:

“I think I would have less of an issue with the group if they just changed their name to ‘Conservative Members of UBC’ or something like that, because that’s what they are,” said Bo. “Putting the title of ‘Free Speech’ doesn’t make sense to me because it also implies that anyone not with them is against the concept of free speech, which is not at all what the situation is.”

While many of the Free Speech group members are very open about their conservative leaning, they tend to describe their group as “open to a diverse range of opinions” when this does not appear to be the case.

“If you’re within Free Speech, you should be letting in people from a whole spectrum of political views and opinions,” said Bo. “The way many members interact with others prevents people who are not politically centre or centre-right from interacting with them.”

Asp acknowledged that most members of the club identify as

centre-right or conservative and agreed that “trading insults is not productive.” However, he added that the executives of the club “can’t exert control over the dialogues” within the discussion page and can only “strongly encourage” people to make conversations more constructive.

Asp said he would “like to see less insults and personal attacks, but people can do whatever they want on the page to an extent.”

Despite these comments from Asp, he has allowed ad hominem to occur within the page. In the general guidelines, he specifically says to “keep ad hominem attacks to a minimum.” When asked about this, he said, “almost everybody on our page has really thick skin and thinks that stuff is funny, so it never really gets in the way of conversation.”

In regards to the intent or goals of the Free Speech Club, Afie Bo believes that free speech is not really the motive to form this group. She thinks that a big reason

why the group was formed in the first place was because “they felt uncomfortable being conservative on campus.”

“The intention of furthering free speech is great, but we live in Canada. We go to UBC. Your free speech is not under attack. Clearly, you have a platform to say whatever you want to say. Conservatives ran our government for many years.

I don’t think free speech is under attack.”

Bo goes on to say that the club rides “a very fine line between free speech and hate speech.” However, Asp believes that hate speech falls under the category of free speech.

He believes that “if you’re just expressing your opinion, then it’s just your opinion. If you’re hateful towards somebody, you’re hateful towards somebody … but it’s still just your opinion. So just by definition, it should fall under free speech.”

As stated before, this is a nonAMS funded club that only started this year by Louis Jung. Through their controversial events and Facebook posts, the UBC Free Speech Club has successfully put themselves in the spotlight at UBC. Whether you agree with their opinions or not, one thing is clear: this club is riddled with hypocrisy and contradictions. These span from their social media posts to their events and many conflicting statements made by members of the club, particularly both its communications officer and the events coordinator/founder.

They claim to be apolitical, yet nearly every post and event thus far has had to do with politics.

They claim to want to create open dialogue and discussion, yet they allow ad hominem among members and clearly have a conservative and right-wing bias.

Having conservative or rightwing opinions is not the issue here.

It is the inconsistency with what the club says it promotes and what it actually promotes. If you want to create a safe space to have these opinions, that’s perfectly fine, but you cannot describe your club as apolitical and open when it’s not. If this club wants to be taken seriously instead being ridiculed by the rest of the student body, it needs to figure itself out.

After conducting an interview with Cooper Asp, it became apparent the club has the potential to bring a lot of good discussion onto the campus. If they move forward by having events that promote opinions and dialogue from people across the political scale, then they could live up to the description and standard they’ve set for themselves. Just from UBC Confessions incident:

On the Holocaust:

looking at the discussion group’s growth since November, they have been making progress toward having more serious discussions.

There has been a significant decrease in memes and offensive jokes, but there is still a dominant conservative presence. Until any real and consistent effort is made by the club administration to bring a level of moderation and personal safety into the discussions that are taking place, the UBC Free Speech Club can only be thought of as an often hostile conservative echo-chamber built upon casual racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism and violence-inciting rhetoric. If you are looking for intellectual, informed and open discussion, you will not find it here. U

10 | culture | TUESDAY JANUARY 24, 2017 THEATRE //

Review: Love and Information is an impressive achievement

FILE JOSHUA MEDICOFF

The play was a strange, sad and sometimes hilarious amalgam of vividly realized scenes.

Samuel Du Bois Culture Editor

Last Thursday, the Frederic Wood Theatre unveiled its first show of 2017, Love and Information.

Directed by MFA candidate Lauren Taylor and featuring an ensemble cast of 18, this ambitious, absurdly complicated and remarkably experimental play proved to be a great success that is well worth the price of admission.

The Ubyssey covered the production of this play last week, and even then, it became apparent just how much of a departure this was from the traditional productions put on by the theatre department. The traditional three act structures and ornate dialogue of Shakespeare, Marlowe and other classic playwrights had been replaced with karaoke, discussions about dark matter and arguments about secret messages that are hidden in traffic lights.

The structure of the play consists of 59 unconnected scenes,

all strung together in rapid-fire succession and sporting 120 characters. There is a frenetic energy that runs through the whole of the play and keeps momentum until the very end. This is helped in large part by the impressive sound and lighting effects that provide cinematic transitions between scenes that are loud, fun and far more than gimmicky. Cleverly using the bright lines and dark surfaces of the set, the projectors fill the stage with a barrage of visual motifs that nicely build expectations about what the next scene will hold.

For the most part these transitions are very effective, but several times they would come to rather jarring ends, with the music cutting out and the mesmerizing images going with them. These were not often enough to ruin the moment, but they certainly could have been smoother.

These did, however, act as the perfect cover for a team of highly skilled workers to swiftly cart off

an astounding amount of props and furniture with great precision.

Somehow each scene managed to find the perfect balance of set decoration that made every scene minimalist but also quite rich.

There was always just enough visual information to make you feel like the world in which these characters were interacting was more than just a few chairs and a fridge or a tent and telescope.

Somehow each of the scenes felt different and unique.

A lot of the credit for this must also go to the actors, who each quite successfully pulled off their many roles with a great deal of skill. Each character felt distinct, right down to things like the nervous twitching of fingers

or restless posturing, and there were no moments where any great missteps were made. Once or twice performers could have been accused of overplaying their characters, especially the more manic ones, but generally there was an impressive level of subtlety that made each memorable, which is saying something when there are 120 of them.

The only great issue came from the “Depression” scenes, which felt out of place and not fully realized. These are a collection of one-line parts that act as a sort of emotional leveling to offset some of the more humorous segments, but here they felt more confusing than anything. The way that the actors delivered these sparse lines

had the wrong tone and made these scenes feel rushed and out of place. Ultimately, they felt like a wasted opportunity.

Beyond that flaw, it was a fantastic play, full of humour, strong performances and technically impressive lighting, sound, costumes and sets. It is a play worth your time, whose experimental nature in no way makes it inaccessible or enigmatic — in fact the opposite could not be more true.

After the opening night, much of the talk in the lobby was about how much of a departure this was from previous UBC theatre productions. I hope dearly that it is the start of a trend, rather than an exception to the rule. U

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OPINION

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR BAILEY RAMSAY

Mind your mind: Self-help books are Letter: Thank you, UBC, for the best an inspiring source of motivation Daphnée Lévesque Staff Writer

Finding people you get along with at a party can be difficult.

FILE CHERIHAN HASSUN

Ask Natalie: Where do all the cool people go?

Natalie Morris Advice Columnist

“Hi Natalie, Where can I find parties to go to and meet new and interesting people. I hit up a frat house recently and it was an underwhelming experience in a barn of agitated, drunken, lustful people.”

Ah, frat parties. Not where I would go for intellectual conversation, but I know from my brief time in the Greek system that at least three houses have dogs and one has a snow cone machine. That was the single greatest party I have ever been to and that house, which shall remain nameless for fear of their snow cone machine becoming too popular, holds a very special place in my heart.

But if the idea of snow cone shots aren’t enough to get your butt into a frat party, then you do have true disdain for frat parties. While said parties may be full of “agitated, drunken, lustful people,” I find they aren’t generally the actual frat members, but rather the other party-goers.

Granted my first-year floor had a rule where we wouldn’t go up to “check out a frat guy’s room.” But on the whole, it wasn’t a frat guy asking you to come home with him before asking your name or sticking his tongue in your ear (free additional advice: don’t do this). You’ll find drunk, rowdy, sex-crazed people everywhere.

It’s university.

Any place where there’s a club atmosphere, you’re going to get that crowd. If you’re looking to get drunk in a calmer space, try a bar or pub. Go with a group or look for meet-ups in more sociable bars like Storm Crow. See if any of your friends are having a house party with their roommates — you’ll be able to meet a lot of friends-of-friends which is always fun.

Other than that, you could join a club that does some of their own partying. I think any club with some social aspect has nights out (The Ubyssey sure does). You might have to get to know people sober before getting drunk with them and you’ll never really know which ones get sloppy drunk until

SCHOOL SPIRIT //

MENTAL HEALTH //

ADVICE //

11

you do, but that’s how a lot of friendships are made.

Good luck and good drinking!

“Who are some of the best and worst profs of UBC?” I can’t tell you that because a) everyone looks for something different in a professor, b) my experiences with professors are limited to the faculty of arts — save six science credits — and c) even if I gave you a pros and cons list of every professor I’ve ever talked to, Rate My Professor would still do it so much better.

“Natalie, I’m graduating this year and I don’t know what I’m going to do after. I panic when I get that question, ‘What are you doing after graduation?’ It’s like everyone around me has their shit together and I don’t. What do I do?”

Honey bear, everyone who graduates feels that way a little. When you’re looking for a job, you’re wondering how everyone else is so employable. When you get your job offer, you wonder how everyone else got such a cool job. If you stay in Vancouver, you’ll wonder what would happen if you left. If you did leave, you’ll miss Vancouver. Life doesn’t just start when you walk across the stage — we’re living it now.

You’ll get a job because you’ll apply for every job you get your hands on.

Where you live will be your home, not because it’s where you went to school or where you grew up, but because that’s where you make your home.

Your dream job will always be out there, even when you think you’ve gotten it.

You’ll always be moving forward and you’ll always feel a little uneasy.

That’s life. It’s not supposed to feel easy. Question everything. No one knows what they’re doing.

We’re adults. We’re the ones who thought we knew the answers when we were kids.

Seriously, you’ll be paying into your RRSPs before you even know it. U Need advice? Contact Natalie anonymously at asknatalie@ubyssey.ca or at ubyssey.ca/advice and have your questions answered!

If you’re like me and are looking to improve your leadership and relationship skills, go ahead and browse the self-help aisle in Chapters or your favourite book store. Perhaps you’ll discover that self-help books can be the perfect tools to help you manage different areas of your life. They are a form of self-improvement and therefore reading them contains a lot of advantages.

Here are a few benefits of reading self-help books: They’re empowering — the reason the genre is so popular is perhaps because self-help books are all about uplifting words that will inspire you to change your life. They can make you feel in control of your life, giving you advice and useful tools to help you change your behaviour, and cultivate a better attitude for yourself — no matter the circumstances.

Self-help is all about inner growth — it is all about selfdirected learning and gaining knowledge as well as wisdom. By reading these books, you’ll not only gradually cultivate selfacceptance, but also a greater sense of self-trust. There are books on different topics that will suit different readers’ tastes and overall, most books have the potential to guide you towards self-reflection.

Such books can give you inspiration and spiritual guidance — they can help you heal. By inspiring you to make better

choices and take positive action, these books can help you reevaluate your life goals, nurture your inner child or change your negative thought patterns.

Self-help books can help you solve personal problems or learn new skills — they can act as good motivators and give you tons of tips and tricks. They have the power to help you develop a different mindset and awareness so that you can learn to change perspective.

As silly and tacky as they sound, self-help books are all about enhancing your life and overall level of happiness in the end. I would strongly encourage you to give them a chance.

Personally, I’ve found self-help books to be uplifting. With their help, I’ve learned to respect my own limitations, solved conflicts and cultivated hope. Mostly, self-help books have helped me develop meaning and purpose in my life.

Examples include: • The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times, Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion, and When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times — Pema Chodron • Mindfulness Solution: Every Day Practice for Every Day Problems — Ronald D. Siegel, PsyD • The Book of Forgiving — Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu U

Winter Classic

JEREMY JOHNSON-SILVERS

Thunderbirds beat the Bisons 4-3.

Noah Kussin Fourth-year Foresty Student

Dear UBC, Thank you. On behalf of everybody here at the Birdcage, thank you for helping us make this year’s Winter Classic the best it’s ever been.

We worked tirelessly with AMS Events, the UBC Party Calendar and the athletics department to help make it a night to remember, and boy, it would not have been the same without all 5,036 of you to help us cheer the Thunderbirds on to their 4-3 win!

Whoever said UBC doesn’t have school spirit has been wholeheartedly proven wrong by the energy and enthusiasm every single fan brought to the game. So again, from us to you, thank you.

Sincerely, The Birdcage U

UBC GAMEPLAN Workshop: January 31 To provide high quality recreation and sport experiences for students, faculty, staff and residents, UBC is developing a long-range recreation and athletics facilities strategy.

Following public consultation last fall, UBC is seeking further input from the campus community on a shortlist of options for Thunderbird Stadium and War Memorial Gym.

This workshop will share how options have evolved since October and will include facilitated small group discussions to hear what the campus community thinks the opportunities and challenges are for each of the remaining options.

Join Us at the Workshop WHEN? Tuesday, January 31, 3 – 7pm · Please note this is a drop-in event

WHERE? Hillel House, 6145 Student Union Boulevard

Online comments can be submitted from January 21 – February 5 at planning.ubc.ca/ubcgameplan

Questions? Please contact Gabrielle Armstrong, Senior Manager, Public Engagement, at gabrielle.armstrong@ubc.ca or 604-822-9984.

planning.ubc.ca/ubcgameplan This notice contains important information which may affect you. Please ask someone to translate it for you.

SCIENCE

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR KOBY MICHAELS

BIOLOGY //

12

ON THE ORIGIN OF SCIENTISTS //

The secret to hummingbird flight? Sight Stavros Avramidis is UBC’s

LIKEADUCK/FLICKR

Human brains probably aren’t capable of hovering.

Emma Loy Contributor

Hummingbirds are magnificent creatures — they fly at breakneck speeds, move with ninja-like agility and hover still in the air. It seems impossible that we could ever understand how hummingbird brains control their movements, but the picture just became a little clearer.

Previous UBC research showed that visual motion cues are involved in hummingbird hovering.

Visual information about motion travels along neurons from the eye to the cerebellum, where sensory information is gathered and integrated to produce a response.

Certain clusters of neurons respond to certain types of motion. For example, the motion of buildings or trees passing by as you walk down the street lights up a different set of neurons than if you were to fall backwards and see the world rushing forward.

The cluster of neurons that relays backward-falling motion is common to all mammals and birds.

In hummingbirds, these neurons make up a cluster of cells called the lentiformus mesencephali, or LM. The hummingbird LM is larger relative to brain size when compared to other animals, which suggests it may play an important role in hovering. Birds that can only hover briefly have slightly enlarged LM regions. It would make sense that an enlarged LM, which relays visual information, would be part of the hummingbird’s neural specialization for hovering.

UBC postdoctoral research fellow Andrea Gaede designed an experiment to see if hummingbird LM neurons respond only to forward motion, as they do in other animals, or if they perform some other specialized function.

The experiment measured single LM neuron activity in response to seeing a white screen with black dots moving in uniform directions. Gaede looked for changes in neuron-firing when the dots changed direction.

“The cell will start firing like crazy in its preferred direction and it’ll get inhibited by the opposite of that preferred direction,” said Gaede.

“Once you know the preferred direction, you can try to figure out what the preferred speed of the stimulus is.”

Gaede found that rather than responding only to forward motion, LM neurons in hummingbirds respond to all directions of motion.

“The LM is really highly conserved, which is why it’s kind of surprising that it might be different in hummingbirds.”

Gaede also predicted that LM neurons would preferentially respond to slow-moving stimuli, as forward motion cells typically prefer slow speeds. She found the opposite — hummingbird LM neurons fire at much higher rates when presented with very fast-moving stimuli.

“We think this is because when things are close to you, even when they’re moving slowly ... the motion across your retina is actually fast.”

Gaede said that in addition to being important for hovering, LM neurons might also be engaged during high-speed displays and flight.

However, the LM is only one of many parts involved in relaying visual motion, so this discovery is likely only a piece of the puzzle of hummingbird hovering behaviour.

“There are a lot of connections we aren’t taking into account by looking at a single thing,” said Gaede. “It’s always important to understand the underlying machinery … but it’s often very different to what’s happening in a behaving animal.”

Gaede’s next steps are to see what takes place at the cerebellum, where information from the LM is received.

Differences at the cerebellum would support the idea that the LM is involved in hovering behaviour. U

MASTER OF DIGITAL MEDIA INFO SESSION JANUARY 25th

Industry – Focused Program Startup Business Support 4 Major Canadian Universities Competitive Scholarship Opportunities

TH 6 PM JOIN US ON JANUARY 25 , 2017 at DIA ME CENTRE FOR DIGITAL VER, BC 685 GREAT NORTHERN WAY, VANCOU sion Register online at thecdm.ca/info-ses

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resident wood scientist

ETTI EMMANUEL

Dr. Avramidis’ first project at UBC was using wood to model lung tissue.

Nivretta Thatra Senior Staff Writer

Need inspiration? Heed the advice of Dr. Stavros Avramidis, UBC professor and head of the department of wood science. “You cannot lock yourself in a room — talk to your colleagues. Talk to whoever uses what you are doing.

That’s the only way to get ideas,” he said.

Getting out of his office is precisely how Avramidis, a wood scientist, found himself working on his first research project at UBC with Dr. Alex MacKay, a medical physicist.

Their key insight — that the small tube-like structure of wood and lungs were almost identical, allowing wood to serve as a model for lung tissue — was a result of a random conversation over lunch. Avramidis and MacKay were strangers in completely different departments when they met at the Faculty Club with their trays of food, yet they ended up collaborating for six years.

Originally from Greece, Avramidis obtained his PhD from the State University of New York. He was offered a position at UBC before he was even finished defending his doctoral thesis — an opportunity he described as amazing, unforeseen and one he was eager to jump on.

While the project with MacKay was in motion, Avramidis also kept in mind the second piece of the collaboration puzzle: talking to the end user. He realized the disconnect between consumers of wood-based products and the forest where the resource comes from. This in turn stands in the way of efficient foresting practices.

Avramidis decided to make predictions about what types of wood consumers would need and to relay these predictions to change forestry. “I wanted to create a super model that allowed me to connect the silviculture — what we do in the forest when

we grow the tree — to the type of wood that the tree produces. If I know that we want wood of this type 20 years from now, I can say to the foresters [that] this is what we need,” he said.

The goal is to protect and ensure the efficient growth of forests instead of haphazardly wasting a valuable resource.

“Wood is the only renewable material on this planet,” said Avramidis.

Predicting the future of foresting is very important, Avramidis believes, because nowadays one can make almost anything from wood, even plastics. “From little things — from forks and spoons, to nanocrystalline cellulose — to massive buildings, you can make all of these out of renewable materials, out of trees,” he said.

More importantly, these products can replace petrochemicals and thus result in a carbon-neutral consumer environment.

Now, 30 years into his career at UBC, most of Avramidis’ time is spent on administrative tasks rather than research and teaching. Administration can be a dreaded, bureaucratic role, but Avramidis finds it to be a rewarding way to give back to the community.

“Administration can also be lots of fun if you don’t see it as a burden,” he said. “If you see it as, ‘Well, maybe I can contribute something to this university.

Maybe I can make the student experience better, perhaps help students with challenges.’

“This is an exciting time for our profession and for humanity. It makes me excited that we are moving into green products, green raw materials, and renewable materials and products.”

He encourages young researchers to join wood science, and hopes the field will attract more students as the public realizes the value of renewable resources, especially wood. U

SPORTS+REC

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY

EDITOR OLAMIDE OLANIYAN

HUSKIES //

Men’s hockey grinds out important win Bill Situ Senior Staff Writer

With a stunning victory against the University of Manitoba Bisons in the Winter Classic, the UBC men’s hockey team went on to split a weekend doubleheader against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.

The ’Birds dropped the first game by a 2-1 decision, where UBC forward Adam Rossignol had the only goal for UBC. Saskatchewan had twice the number of shots on goal as the ’Birds, but the game ended in a one-goal difference thanks to a solid performance by goaltender Matt Hewitt in the net.

In the second game, the ’Birds came out on top 4-2 on a comefrom-behind win.

“It’s huge going into the stretch here. I know [Saskatchewan] is definitely one of the best teams in Canada … and to beat them really gives us insurance going forward,” said T-Bird forward Luke Lockhart after the game.

After the scoreless opening frame, it was the Huskies who claimed the initial lead with a little over 10 minutes into the second. The goal came from Jesse Forsberg during a Saskatchewan power play, which resulted from a hooking penalty against UBC’s

Chase Clayton.

Five minutes after the first goal, Lockhart got the equalizer for the ’Birds when he picked up a loose puck along the boards and rifled it past Huskies goalkeeper Daniel Wapple from the left circle.

In the final two minutes of the second frame, Andrew Johnson reclaimed the lead for the Huskies. Despite the 2-1 deficit, the ’Birds came out strong in the third, producing three goals to come out on top.

“I know it’s in there … to be down one goal against one of the top teams in Canada and just [sticking] to the game plan add a little bit of desperation,” said UBC head coach Sven Butenschon after the game.

The first of the third-period goals came from Clayton, who managed to take the puck from a defender in the slot before finding his way to the crease to put the biscuit in the basket.

With seven and a half minutes remaining in the game, Lockhart managed a sharp-angle shot on Wapple before running hard into the end boards. He then picked up his second goal of the game on a pass by teammate Nick Buonassisi.

Only two minutes later, Buonassisi picked up the gamewinning goal for UBC, skating

BILL SITU

BILL SITU

The ’Birds are currently second to last in the league and there’s not much time left.

with the puck from the neutral zone before deking past two Huskies defenders and beating Wapple to make it 4-2 for the ’Birds.

“Some of these guys were so overdue, it was bound to happen.

I was grateful for Lockhart and Buonassisi there getting back on the scoreboard,” said Butenschon.

With six games remaining in the regular season, the game on Saturday was a much-needed win for

the ’Birds who are currently sitting second to last in Canada West.

“There’s not much time left, but if we keep playing the same way, we’ll keep picking up points and we should be able to scrap our way back into the playoffs,” said Lockhart. U UBC now holds an 8-11-2 record, and will travel on the road next week to play the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns.

UBC alumni inducted into BC Hall of Fame

David Sidoo, Frank Smith and the 1969/70 UBC Thunderettes women’s basketball team were inducted.

David Sidoo, Frank Smith and the 1969/70 UBC Thunderettes women’s basketball team are among the members of the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s 2017 induction class.

Of all the inductees, Sidoo received the highest honour — the W.A.C. Bennett Award.

According to the Hall of Fame’s nomination form, the Bennett award recognizes individuals who have “made a significant unique and lasting contribution to sport in British Columbia.”

Sidoo — who played for Thunderbirds football from 1978 to 1982 and won a Vanier Cup championship during his final

year — has donated millions of dollars toward sports programs for youth in the province. He also notably founded the 13th Man Foundation to raise money for the UBC football team.

While he is proud of his accomplishment, Sidoo said that he feels more grateful for the difference he’s been able to make in his community.

“It’s not about the awards, really. It’s about the people that you make a difference for and that’s what really just excites me so much,” said Sidoo.

Smith — who coached UBC football from 1974 to 1994 and made four Vanier Cup appearances during that time — was also proud to see a player that

INJURY //

The team performed well despite being plagued with injuries.

LEGENDS //

Bill Situ Senior Staff Writer

13

DAVID SIDOO & UBC ATHLETICS

he once coached enter the Hall of Fame. “[Sidoo] is certainly worthy of being inducted. He’s done a number of things in the community over and above just football,” said Smith.

Smith got inducted to the Hall of Fame as part of the player/ coach category and attributes his induction success to the performance of his team.

“A lot of the players went to play for the Canadian Football League (CFL) after they had been at UBC, and that’s a reflection on them and a reflection on the team and the program,” said Smith.

Sidoo also credits his success to Smith’s mentorship.

“I’ve taken so many of those team aspects that [Smith] taught me

on the football field and in sports into my business world, and have been very successful with that,” said Sidoo. “He’s helped me more than he can help.”

In the team category, it was the 1969/70 UBC Thunderettes women’s basketball team that got the award.

Heather Cranston — one of the members of the team — sees the 1969/70 season as having set a legacy for the women’s basketball program at UBC. “The coaching style was what really took this group of athletes higher than most of the teams had been before,” said Cranston. “We did fitness training that was pretty much unheard of for women’s sports.”

That year, the Thunderettes came out with a 32-6 record to place first in Western Canada and also won the Senior A women’s championship. Five of the team’s players eventually went on to play for the Canadian national team.

“I think it’s really important for women’s sports, especially women’s team sports, to be promoted through the BC Sports Hall of Fame,” said Cranston.

Outside of UBC, other members of the induction class include Roland Green (cycling), Mark Recchi (ice hockey), Geroy Simon (football), Michelle Stilwell (wheelchair athletics), Mark Wyatt (rugby), Tim Frick (wheelchair basketball), George and Dianne Tidball (equestrian) and Chang Keun Choi (taekwondo). U The official ceremony for the Hall of Fame induction will take place on April 12.

Tight loss for men’s field hockey in first game of 2017 Bill Situ Senior Staff Writer

Coming off of a 4-5-2 record before the winter break, the UBC men’s field hockey team took a 4-3 loss against West Vancouver FHC in their first game of 2017.

The first half was a close contest between the two teams, with West Vancouver being the first to get onto the scoreboard. The ’Birds then managed to equalize the game before the opposition came back to reclaim the lead.

As the first half reached the midway mark, UBC forward John Sharp recorded the second goal for UBC, putting the ball behind the back line after an earlier shot by defender Quentin Clark got deflected off the goalkeeper’s pad.

With the score now tied at 2-2, the ’Birds took the lead for the first time on a penalty stroke by fourthyear defender Gordon Johnston.

Despite trailing, West Vancouver managed to produce two more goals and come back on top 4-3. UBC then desperately fought to tie things up once again and had opportunities, which included a few short penalty corners and a shot that struck the crossbar. Still, the ’Birds were unable to respond and the game ended in a one-goal loss.

Even with the loss, UBC head coach Kinder Gill was overall impressed by his team’s performance given the team’s current battle with injuries and illness.

“I thought our boys played really well. Good effort overall.

We were unlucky on a couple of chances, but the most difficult part we had was fielding healthy players,” said Gill.

With only 12 able players available, UBC had room for only one substitute available throughout the entire game.

“We just had one sub, and that makes it difficult when there [are] unlimited substitutions and you want to have at least four guys on the bench,” said Gill.

“It was a good result [and] good energy shown by the team.” U UBC now holds a 4-6-2 record and currently places seventh in the Premier Division. The team will play its next game on the road against the United Brothers FHC in Surrey.

14 | SPORTS+REC | TUESDAY JANUARY 24, 2017 THUNDERBIRDS //

t-birds 5-on-5 Childhood Champions

golf

hockey

hockey

volleyball

field hockey

by Isabelle Commerford

Avril Li

Brandon Underwood

Joe Antilla

Joel Regehr

Rowan Harris

1. What are your New Year’s resolutions?

Make 2016 better than 2017.

To make it to a few more Thursday morning classes.

I think maybe mixing in a salad or two would be my best resolution — I eat far too much bad food. Secondly, I watched Cuban Fury recently and got really interested in salsa dancing, so I think I might take up some lessons.

I didn’t have any formal New Year’s resolutions, but I am trying to meal prep as much as possible.

I don’t do those.

2. What’s your favourite snack or snack-place on campus?

Uppercase!

Omio Japan in the Village — can’t beat the lunch box.

McDonald’s for sure, which is probably why I should go to more places with salad.

You can’t go wrong with a Delly sandwich.

Omio for sushi in the Village.

Snacks, lunch, dinner — you can always find me there.

3. Growing up, what makeshift equipment did you use to practice your sport?

When I was younger, I used to use baseball bats or tennis rackets to hit the golf ball as strength and speed practice.

I used to use my dad’s old sticks when he got new ones. They were so stiff I couldn’t even shoot or flex them at all.

My uncle made my brothers and I a Plexiglas shooting platform ...The frustrating part about it was we didn’t have a goalie, so my older brothers and I put pads on my little brother and put him in net to make it more realistic.

It’s not necessarily makeshift, but my sister and I would sometimes use a badminton net to play volleyball in our backyard.

4. Tennis or badminton?

Tough one, but badminton because I am better at it.

Tennis because I’m really good at Wii tennis, so it would translate to the court for sure.

To be honest, I suck at both of those sports, but I suck less at badminton. So I would have to say badminton because I can’t even serve or return a tennis ball over the net.

Although we had a badminton net, I’m going to have to go with tennis. It’s lots of fun to watch and I always get a kick out of their grunts during rallies.

Neither — field hockey is my one true love.

5. Have you ever gone fishing?

Did you use a net, a rod or your bare hands?

Nope, I’ve never gone fishing, but I would love to someday. Maybe when I’m old.

The only fishing I do is for likes on Instagram.

This is a great question, as I have spent all my summers commercial fishing on the Pacific Ocean since I was 10.

So to answer the question, I would say all of the above.

I’m from Vancouver Island, so I’ve been fishing lots of times. Usually with a rod, but I have done the old string with a hook tied to it on occasion.

Nets, rods, bare hands, fishing line and hook — you name it and I’ve done it.

I didn’t start playing field hockey until part way through high school. But when I did, I made some rebound boards out of bins in my basement and hit balls around to improve my reflexes.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL //

’Birds take down MRU Cougars, sweep weekend Lucy Fox Senior Staff Writer

The UBC men’s volleyball team decimated the Mount Royal Cougars on Friday, January 20 in three straight sets, with set scores at 25-21, 25-17 and 25-19.

UBC got on the board first as outside hitter Irvan Brar spiked the ball just inside Mount Royal’s baseline. Setter Byron Keturakis followed up the initial kill with four serves, ending in four consecutive points for the ’Birds. UBC won the ball back quickly after that, as Keturakis played a tricky tip to firstyear middle Jordan Deshane who

smashed the ball just over the net to take the ’Birds to 6-1.

The ’Birds stayed well ahead for the rest of the set, winning 25-21 with Fennema notching the final kill.

The second set proved even more dominating for the T-Birds.

Throughout the set, the Cougars didn’t get closer than four points away from the T-Birds. Some more creative play from the home side proved difficult to compete with for the visitors.

In the closing points of the set, the Cougars started an onslaught of heavy hits, trying to force the ball through UBC’s defensive wall.

Cougars’ outside hitter Lachie

Pollock was among those pushing to break UBC’s defence as he smashed the ball across the net.

UBC’s Joel Regehr put up the huge block, putting the ’Birds ahead 23-17.

Another two points for UBC sealed the deal in the second, as they won 25-17.

The third set was the closest of them all, as Mount Royal tightened their defensive tactics and made more creative attacking drives.

As the teams exchanged serves, Mount Royal made the first big play to earn their 12th point. With setter Tanner Greves popping the ball up at the net, middle hitter

Josh Kirkham smashed the ball into UBC’s back court. With the play, the visitors held a two-point marginal lead at 12-10.

The Thunderbirds would eventually win the set 25-19, taking Friday’s match in a clean sweep of the Cougars.

On Saturday night, the match was a lot closer, as the sides played out all five sets.

UBC took the first, winning 25-20, but the Cougars fought back to take the second and third, 26-24 and 25-17 respectively. In the fourth, UBC reversed the third set score line, taking it 25-17 and sending the teams into a fifth set.

In the end, the ’Birds managed to pull out the win, taking the fifth set 15-11.

Irvan Brar led the T-Birds in kills on Saturday night with 23 overall. The previous evening, the Surrey native was honoured with a scholarship for his contribution to volleyball in his community.

In support, Keturakis had 42 assists on the night. He leads the team with an impressive 615 assists so far this season. U Moving towards the top of the table, the ’Birds head to Calgary next weekend to face the ninth-placed University of Calgary Dinos.

JANUARY 24, 2017 TUESDAY | sports+rec | 15 WAR //

I survived the deathmatch that is UBC REC’s Gladiator Lucy Fox Senior Staff Writer

You know it’s going to be a journey when you put your leggings on the wrong way before an event.

As I got home from work and made the quick turnaround to head up to campus, something told me Gladiator was going to be more than I had imagined it to be. Maybe it was the chai latte still sitting in my stomach telling me activity was not a smart plan.

Maybe it was me forgetting my keys on three different treks back to my room from the front door.

Whatever it was, when I walked out to my car, I had a fleeting moment where I realized I was absolutely not prepared for this.

There were five activities on the go at the Student Recreational Centre, all meant for teams of 6 to 10. Being by myself, I was slightly limited in the options I could try. After some UBC REC staff consultation, we opted for two of the Lord of the Rings-themed activities — Battle of Minas Tirith and Mount Doom.

First up was Minas Tirith. Put simply, it’s a slow-spinning clock of terror — not the technical term, but you get the idea. With players standing on stools around the inflatable clock face, a giant clock hand swings around to take out

any flailing limbs in its path. This is where my jumping skills, or lack thereof, failed me miserably.

It was only myself in the circle and I could see the hand coming every time, but my complete lack of coordination sent me flying over the bar and awkwardly into the cushioning below.

Twice I tried. Twice I failed.

Now think about doing that with other people in the ring, and having balls thrown at you as well. That was what teams were up against.

Second on the list was Mount Doom.

A giant, adult-sized bouncycastle maze. From the outside, it looks inviting — a colourful little haven, like something out of Imagination Land from the movie Inside Out. But once inside, the walls felt like they were swallowing you whole. The first hill seemed friendly — it was short and sweet. From then on though, you tumble into a dark abyss. This was not for the claustrophobic students of UBC from my evaluation.

With inflatable beams, bars and barriers in your path, I got lost in the sea of shadows and colours. And then, from around a corner, you face Mount Doom itself. Towering over you, it is your task to conquer it before sliding down to victory once you

SOPHIE SUTCLIFFE

Gladiator is one of many events organized by UBC REC.

hit the summit.

Embarrassingly, it was almost exhilarating. I wasn’t even racing anyone and I was taking my time, but the slide back to home base was like scoring the winning goal, the final touchdown, the winning basket at a national championship.

Throw in getting your hands on “the ring” itself in the maze and taking that back down to

the maze entrance — which teams were actually supposed to be doing — and you’ve got a competition.

Teams also tested their smarts, speed and team spirit with other activities like Riddles in the Dark, Storming Helm’s Deep and Escape Shelob’s Lair. There was even Lord of the Rings music and a movie playing to put teams right into the Middle Earth mindset.

As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places.”

Those dark places are probably the dark corners of the Mount Doom maze and the feelings of peril grip the heart when a tennis ball is launched at you in Storming Helm’s Deep, I have skills to hone for next year, alongside learning to put pants on the right way. U

RECREATION //

New Aquatic Centre open to public on January 23

The centre’s capacity is a whooping 966 bathers with the mezzanine able to hold 460 spectators.

Salomon Micko Benrimoh Senior Staff Writer

The long-awaited UBC Aquatic Centre was briefly opened to media on the morning of Wednesday, January 19 and the many new amenities of the pool were showcased. The Ubyssey was on hand for the unveiling, and got a first-hand look at the new $40-million facility.

The pool opened to the public on Monday, January 23, with regular aquatic programming taking shape

over the next few months.

There are a total of three pools at the new centre. The first is a recreational pool meant for the community. In it is a makeshift water basketball court, a lazy river and a general play area complete with pool toys and a very large hot tub. The centre’s capacity can accomodate 966 bathers with a mezzanine that can hold 460 spectators.

Next to the recreation pool is a 10-lane, 25-metre pool with a deep end and two diving boards.

This pool is ideal for short-course training and lap swimming for the community. The diving boards include a smaller springboard and a higher diving board of four to six metres. To address accessibility needs, there are ramps to the leisure pool and 25-metre pool, as well as a power lift into the hot tub.

On the other side of both smaller pools is the 50-metre competition pool. This will be the centre of training for the UBC Thunderbirds men’s and women’s team, the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club and

OLAMIDE OLANIYAN

the Vancouver branch of Swimming Canada’s National Training Centre.

An upgrade from the old Aquatic Centre was needed if Vancouver wanted to retain its national training centre. Given that the ’Birds are the most decorated university swim program in the country, it was time that they had a facility that reflected that. Other major programs across the country have replaced their pools in recent years, including the University of Toronto Blues and the Université de Laval Rouge et Or.

It’s one thing to train in a pool and it’s a whole other thing to race in one.

For swimmers, this is a great pool to race in. The air quality is good thanks to filters located at the surface level of the pool. These are supposed to help the athletes’ performance, especially compared to the old Aquatic Centre which was extremely hot and humid.

The lighting is at a perfect level and the ceiling is clear and straight, meaning that swimmers — especially backstrokers — won’t get blinded mid-race.

Diving blocks are yet to be installed, but they will be new FINA-regulated starting blocks — a big improvement over the monstrously huge blocks of the old Aquatic Centre. The pool is also deep at all points where there are starting blocks, so the slamming of ankles in the shallow end will be a thing of the past.

Another interesting aspect of the new facility is the communal feeling created by placing the high-performance training pool right next to the recreational pool.

Olympians and Thunderbirds will swim alongside the community, encouraging other swimmers and allowing community members to have some of the best swimmers in the country to look up to.

In addition, there are universal change rooms where the lockers of Olympic and T-Bird swimmers are placed next to those of community members, again creating a closer connection between the community and the elite athletes training at the facility. U

16 | GAMES+COMICS | TUESDAY JANUARY 24, 2017

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