page 3
THE CAMPUS RESIDENT March 20, 2017
Editor & Business Manager John Tompkins phone: 604.827.3502
email: jtompkins@myuna.ca
Design Production Megan Hansen email: megan.hansen@myuna.ca
Published monthly by the University Neighbourhoods Association #202-5923 Berton Avenue, Vancouver BC, V6S 0B3
MLA Eby Pays Tribute to Late Jim Taylor at BC Legislature David Eby, MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, delivered the following speech in the British Columbia Legislature in Victoria February 27 The neighbourhood where I live at UBC is made up of people from all over the world. The university neighbourhood community truly is the definition of diversity. But this didn’t happen overnight or by accident. One of the founders of this diverse community was Jim Taylor, Queen’s Counsel, who, sadly, passed away last year at the age of 72. Jim’s influence in the university neighbourhoods and at UBC, where he had been a law professor, was so profound that the flag was lowered to half-mast when he passed away. His work in establishing the University Neighbourhoods Association, a local resident group at UBC, led in part to him receiving a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his work. I learned only after he’d passed away that as a lawyer, I knew Jim before I met him. He was co-author with current Supreme Court of Canada Justice Beverley McLachlin of McLachlin and Taylor, the go-to civil procedure guide for all litigators in the province. Without Jim, I would have been an even more confused law student. So thank you, Jim, for the help. In his later years, Jim was a founder
and driving member of the University Neighbourhoods multicultural committee, which is often the first interaction new arrivals in Canada have with community involvement in our neighbourhood. Rather than attempt to explain to you Jim’s influence in this new arrival community, I’ll draw from quotes from members describing Jim’s influence. Florence Luo, the current Chair of the UNA Multicultural Committee, wrote: “Jim was the most supportive and openminded mentor…. He was a kind and insightful soul…. Jim was the type of true friend who wanted to take your troubles on his shoulders and used real actions to help out.” Ying Zhou, a prominent campus volunteer and outspoken elected member of the University Neighbourhoods Association Board, wrote: “My life as a new immigrant to Canada changed dramatically after I met Jim…. Jim encouraged my friends and me to get involved in the UNA election that year. This was the first time I had voted, and it was my introduction to democracy.” Thank you, Jim, for all of your work for British Columbians and for our community.
Letter to the Editor
Good Neighbours? I have a puppy that I walk at Hampton Place. On these sojourns, I have the pleasure of watching him ingest a variety of litter: cigarette butts abandoned by smokers; sodden, used tissues, white so they contrast with the grey sidewalk attracting his puppy eyes; chewed gum spat out but presenting an intriguing smell for his puppy nose and mouth. I also have the pleasure of admiring other dogs’ poops. Many owners just leave the droppings on the grassy areas, so my puppy sniffs all of them. This allows me, at the end of his leash, to play vet, contemplating their texture, colour, size… Then at nighttime, these same boulevards offer me fun obstacle courses to maneuver through. As well, I
have benefited from a free science lesson. Owners, who leave their dogs’ offerings in the snow drifts, have taught me that dog poop doesn’t melt when the temperature rises. And finally, other owners, who are oblivious that their canine friends plop on the sidewalk, provide innocent pedestrians the opportunity to produce modern art. Their footprints leave poopy patterns which I admire as I carefully step from one artistic paving stone to another. Good neighbours? Only some. Margot Brown, Hampton Place resident and dog owner P.S. Since littering on highways means a $2,000 fine, I think I will start fining the residents mentioned above. What an easy way to pay my UBC Services Levy?
Advertising enquiries email: advertising@myuna.ca
Letter from UBC President
UBC’s Next Century Welcome to my first monthly column in The Campus Resident. Since I arrived here last year, I have had the privilege of meeting many of you face-to-face and I have been moved by how passionate you are about your community. I look forward to further engagement with you, our neighbours and friends. In this first column, I would like to invite you to participate in UBC’s new strategic planning process. As our neighbours, your views on the university’s future are important. The University of British Columbia is a globally renowned place of learning, research and service. UBC is developing an updated strategic plan, entitled UBC’s Next Century, to provide an effective framework to guide and implement key priorities, goals and actions over the next 25 years and to transform an outstanding institution from excellence to eminence. While looking ahead to UBC’s future, we intend to build on the achievements of the past. UBC has been well served by both Trek 2000, the strategic plan introduced by President Martha Piper in 1998, and Place and Promise, the plan introduced in 2009 by President Stephen Toope. Thanks in large part to those plans, today UBC ranks among the world’s leading universities. We are the most international university in North America, as a result of a commitment to global citizenship that we first adopted in Trek 2000. But UBC needs to revisit its goals and priorities to reflect our changing world. We now have an opportunity to set the course for the next 25 years, to take an outstanding university and make it even better. UBC has already achieved great things and we are recognized worldwide for the quality of our research, our innovative teaching, our international outlook and our community engagement. To preserve and enhance that reputation, we need to make strategic investments in the people and initiatives that form our community. The UBC’s Next Century strategic planning process started with a webbased survey that elicited more than 1,000 responses from members of the UBC community. Several key themes were identified from the results, and a steering committee – comprised of UBC faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members – has distilled those themes into eight strategic priorities: 1. Local/Regional/Global 2. Working Across Disciplines 3. Creativity, Innovation and Risk Taking 4. Engagement and Reciprocity
Professor Santa Ono. Photo credit Paul Joseph, UBC. 5. Our Community and Wellbeing 6. Sustainability 7. Indigeneity 8. Diversity And four core activities: 1. Teaching and learning 2. Research 3. Knowledge mobilization 4. Institutional activities Over the next few months, we want to engage with the entire UBC community – including you – to come up with suggestions and goals for the eight priorities and how they relate to the four core activities. Already, two in-person sessions have been scheduled: Thursday, March 23, 11-1pm, in The Nest (Great Hall) and Tuesday, March 28, 11-1pm, in the Alumni Centre (Jack Poole Hall). I hope you can join us at one of these events, but if you’re not able to participate in person, there will be additional opportunities to share your ideas; for example, through a survey about the draft priorities, core commitments and challenges. You can find out more information about ways to participate – and the strategic plan in general – online at http://president.ubc.ca/ strategic-initiatives. Together we can transform an already outstanding institution from excellence to eminence. I encourage you to take part in the shaping of UBC’s future, and I look forward to further engagement with you, our friends and neighbours. Professor Santa J. Ono President and Vice-Chancellor