Dropping glass SINCE 1918 January 9, 2012 | VOL. XCIII ISS. XXIX

$UTHE UBYSSEY

2.1530STUDENTS

A CAMPUSMOURNS

DODGEBALL CANCELLED

SWEEP

EIGHT LEGGED HIGH FIVE

Men’s and women’s take the prairies P8

P2

P9Arts Week continues despite setbacks

UBC graduate Student Ximena Osegueda found dead in Mexico P4

OVERCHARGEDTO

MILLION$

WHAT HAPPENED? P3

2 | Page 2 | 01.09.2012

UThe Ubyssey is the official stu-dent newspaper of the University of British Columbia. It is published ev-ery Monday and Thursday by The Ubyssey Publications Society. We are an autonomous, democratically run student organization, and all stu-dents are encouraged to participate.

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EDITORIALCoordinating Editor Justin McElroycoordinating@ubyssey.ca

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THE UBYSSEY January 9, 2012, Volume XCIII, Issue XXVIII

LEGAL

STAFFAndrew Hood, Bryce Warnes, Catherine Guan, David Elop, Jon Chiang, Josh Curran, Will McDonald, Tara Martellaro, Virginie Menard, Scott MacDonald, Anna Zoria, Peter Wojnar, Tanner Bokor, Dominic Lai, Mark-Andre Gessaroli, Natalya Kautz, Kai Jacobson, RJ Reid

Got an event you’d like to see on this page? Send your event and your best pitch to printeditor@ubyssey.ca.

What’s on This week, may we suggest...

HACKS>>

TUE10 MOA >>

CLUBS >>

FRI13

SLAM >>

ARTS WEEK >>

All President’s Dinner: 5:30-8:30pm @ SUB BallroomThis annual hack schmooze-fest is invitation only. If you’re a real student leader, you can get some free appetizers, an absurd amount of wine and some good ol’ self congratulation. Try again next year.

UBC Slam Open Mic: 7:30-9:30pm @ Simply French CaféA night of poetry and perfor-mance for anybody who wants to participate. And for those who don’t, just come enjoy the show.

MOA curator tours: 1-2pm @ MOAThis is the first of a weekly Tuesday event in which you can learn about different col-lections from the Museum of Anthropology’s curators. Come learn why they’re interesting.

Wrap up Arts Week with a big sloppy SUB party. The 2011 Ubyssey would make some stu-pid joke about Arts degrees here, but we’re better than that now...and most of us now have Arts degrees.

MON9

THU12

WED11Talk for the UBC Stamp and Coin Club: 12-1 @ SUB 205This talk, titled “The rise, fall, resurrection and final disappear-ance of Napoleon Bonaparte as recorded on French currency,” concerns dictators and their ap-pearance on currency.

Spencer ToffoliContributor

To some students, Dr Ken Savage is simply known as “the spider guy.” Savage has become well-known in the department of zool-ogy for ordering live spiders via FedEx and letting them roam free in his office.

As we spoke, he had two differ-ent spiders happily living on and around his desk, basically unre-stricted except by some hanging sheets of plastic surrounding the wooden frames built for them to spin their webs. The larger of the two seemed unhindered by the fact that it was missing a couple of legs, and was busily spinning a web around its lunch, one of the mealworms Savage feeds them.

Despite his comfort with having them in close proximity, Savage is less interested in the spiders them-selves than in their webs. Savage is a biomechanics researcher, study-ing the mechanics of biological systems, specifically spiderwebs: how they are built, the patterns they come in and the strength of the different types of spider silk.

Although there has been con-siderable interest in the potential commercial applications of rep-licating spider silk’s combination of strength and flexibility (among other qualities), Savage’s research is purely for the sake of scientific knowledge. “We’re pretty much doing some straightforward purely science-type questions.”

Savage never actually planned

to become “the spider guy.” He said he basically fell into biome-chanics in university and has al-ways been guided by his curiosity.

“It was totally accidental. I always had a curiosity for the way things worked. [Biomechanical research] is the sort of place where you can just ask the basic questions.”

It’s not surprising, then, that building the gadgets used to test spider silk is Savage’s favourite part of the job. He uses tools in his lab to make measurement instru-ments which would otherwise cost “an enormous amount of money.”

One of the most difficult things, Savage said, is actually acquiring the spiders. Colleagues in warmer climates used to pick them up for Savage if they had the chance. Most of his current specimens are of the common garden variety, except they are from the trop-ics, and thus larger. Luckily, he

has managed to find a reptile and invertebrate dealer in Florida who will catch them, package them in small plastic containers (which look suspiciously like take-out sauce containers), and then send them to him via FedEx, which he said “is actually one of the carri-ers which deals with this sort of thing.”

Because of their short lifespans, Savage doesn’t get too attached to the spiders. He has dozens more in his lab, and describes himself as “more of a dog person.”

Outside of the lab, Savage is BC born and bred. He grew up in Hope and later studied at UBC, where he has remained except for a two-year post doc at the University of Bath in the UK. As for hobbies, Savage enjoys skiing, snowboarding and hockey when he gets the chance.

“I’m pretty Canadian that way. If it’s on snow or ice, I can at least get by.” U

Our Campus One on one with the people who make UBC

Savage is in some ways partnered with this spider, which produces the webs he studies. CHRIS BORCHERT /THE UBYSSEY

Ken Savage: spider freedom fighter

Arts Mardi Gras: 8pm @ SUB Ballroom

NewsEditors: Kalyeena Makortoff & Micki Cowan

01.09.2012 | 3

Kalyeena MakortoffNews Editor

A problem with UBC’s electronic funds transfer system (EFT) has left some students double- and triple-billed for tuition, housing and Go Global application fees in the new semester.

The amount collected in error reached approximately $2.1 million, according to the UBC registrar’s office.

“It was a technical glitch with one of our service providers...The net result was about 530 odd students ended up with having their bank ac-counts deducted multiple times for a single payment,” said James Ridge, associate vice-president and regis-trar for Enrolment Services UBC.

According to an email sent out by UBC on January 4, payments made between December 23 and 28 were processed multiple times, resulting in multiple withdrawals from stu-dents’ accounts. These withdrawals continued until January 3.

Ridge explained that it wasn’t the university’s error, but a third party company called BeanStream that does batch processing payments for UBC.

BeanStream’s president, Craig Thomson, confirmed that BeanStream has had a contract with UBC for transaction processing for six or seven years, but declined fur-ther comment regarding the error.

Ridge said that BeanStream re-acted quickly and has been working to correct the problem and refund students.

“They’re understandably quite horrified by this. We’re an impor-tant and big client and they’re really

very, very concerned about the dis-tress this has caused a large number of students, as are we,” said Ridge.

“We are having some very inten-sive discussions with BeanStream to make sure this never does happen again.”

The multiple transactions have unfortunately caused financial hardship for some students, said Ridge. However, UBC said they will help students with some emer-gency financial assistance, in some instances loaning money to affected students.

Tim Wong, a fifth-year student, had $3200 withdrawn from his ac-count—triple the amount he autho-rized for EFT tuition payment. “I was actually down $90, but I quickly

found out and transferred my mon-ey from another account.”

Fourth-year student and Marine Drive resident Scott Newson had a housing payment of $760 with-drawn three times, leaving him without enough money to make a tuition payment.

“I was confused by the lack of funds in my account…I initially thought that I had mis-budgeted somehow,” said Newson. He intends to ask UBC to have his tuition dead-line deferred.

“Luckily, I have not had any over-draft or NSF fees,” he said. “I would have if I had paid my tuition without checking my account history.”

Duplicate payments from stu-dents will be credited back to

accounts starting January 5 until January 10, depending on the date of the mistaken withdrawals. UBC also informed students they will be compensated for any insufficient funds charges or overdraft fees, which will ultimately be paid for by BeanStream.

Ridge said the university wants to apologize to all the students that have been affected so far. “We really do regret this and we really hate any inconvenience to students,” he said.

“Yes, it’s a third party company, but it’s an interaction with the uni-versity. It’s one that’s been very, very unfortunate, so we’re really quite upset about this and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it never happens again.” U

No smoking in Pacific Spirit Park, Wreck Beach

The Metro Vancouver ban on smok-ing in regional parks took effect January 1, 2012.

Smoking is now only allowed in designated areas and violators will face a $75 fine.

The smoke-free parks initiative is the result of research, public feedback and Metro Vancouver’s commitment to the promotion of a healthy urban environment and support for active living and wellness.

The objectives of the policy are to protect park users from second-hand smoke and to control litter associated with smoking.

Enforcement of the bylaw will be-gin in February.

UBC study shows low-income health hit

According to a study released by UBC and SFU, children in low-income neighbourhoods are more likely to attend schools located near major roads that are a source of air and noise pollution.

The study suggests students attending schools in low-income neighbourhoods face increased risk of health problems and learning difficulties.

“Studies of children who live near major roads have found that traffic-related air pollution is associated with lower lung function, impaired lung growth, asthma, ear infections and lower cognitive functioning,” said SFU geography grad student Ofer Amram.

Southern Medical Program sends students to Okanagan

The Southern Medical Program’s (SMP) inaugural class of 32 students arrived at UBC’s Okanagan campus earlier this month.

As part of the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s distributed medical doctor undergraduate program, SMP stu-dents spend the first term of classes in Vancouver and the balance of the four-year MD program studying and training in communities throughout the BC Interior.

“Ultimately, our program will help lay the groundwork for increasing the number of practicing physicians in communities throughout the BC Interior,” said Regional Associate Dean, Interior Allan Jones.

A new treatment for hepatitis C

UBC researchers discovered a pos-sible new therapy for the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The new treatment will combat HCV by shrinking the size of infected fat cells in the liver. By inhibiting the life cycle of the virus, the treatment stops it from causing further liver damage.

HCV currently affects 170 million people worldwide, and no known vac-cine exists. The many mutations of HCV had previously slowed develop-ment of antiviral treatments. Other treatments currently in use run the risk of serious side effects.

UBC researchers say the type of vi-rus inhibition treatment developed for HCV could also be used to combat other types of viruses. U

Collyn Chan Contributor

After a two month pilot project, the AMS paper towel composting pro-gram will not continue.

Funded by the AMS Sustainability Fund, the project made use of student volunteers, who transferred bags of paper towels from SUB bathrooms to a compost-ing facility.

Justin Ritchie, AMS sustainabil-ity coordinator, said that it was hard to make the project work with vol-unteers alone. “The issue is just the amount of time it takes to organize volunteers. There’s just no one who would be able to do that other than me and I’m already committed to several dozen other projects,” said Ritchie.

The project ran throughout October and November, after the sustainability team found that on average, there were 41 bags of paper towels heading to the landfills each day. As the current SUB’s electrical system is incompatible with electric hand dryers, Ritchie and his team opted for composting.

Signs were posted in the SUB instructing students to place only compostable goods and paper towels into the bins, but otherwise it wasn’t highly advertised. “I was actually completely unaware of the initia-tive,” said Niloufar Keshmiri, a first-year Commerce student. “[But] it’s an amazing idea to take advantage of the inefficiencies at UBC to make our school even more sustainable.”

Ritchie said the volunteers were just a short-term solution for the pilot project. “The reason why we can’t do it long-term with volunteers is mainly because of the infringe-ment on potential conflicts with union contracts and then all poten-tial liabilities that the university would incur,” said Ritchie.

“We would need to have someone under contract or someone who is employed to handle the liability is-sue.” U

Change to monthly U-Pass system due to ex-students keeping passes

UBC says they will provide emergency funding to students who found themselves without financing after the multiple transactions.JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

News briefs

Andrew BatesSenior Web Writer

A contract signed between the Province of BC, UBC and the AMS is responsible for forcing UBC to change to a monthly U-Pass system. The change was intended to pre-vent students from dropping out of courses but still keeping their subsi-dized U-Pass.

The contract was obtained by The Ubyssey through a freedom of infor-mation request.

The old distribution system for

the U-Pass, where the pass was mailed out twice a term, didn’t account for students who had dropped out, AMS President Jeremy McElroy explained.

“TransLink is saying the day that a student stops being eligible for a pass, we take that as being a loss on our revenue. That student needs to pay a full-fare pass to have it or you give us the pass back.”

The Unreturned U-Passes Risk Mitigation Agreement is separate from the main U-Pass BC contract and places restrictions on schools

that wanted to hand out full-term passes. According to McElroy, UBC has to pay the full value for U-Passes that aren’t returned by dropped-out students.

With the new contract, if an in-stitution opts for per-term passes, they need get written approval from the Province and build a system for retrieving old passes. They also need to commit to an unreturned U-Pass rate of less than two per cent, or charge dropout students for the full remaining value of their term pass.

“After having directly, and by ourselves, borne the risk and suf-fered the consequences over the length of the years of the old U-Pass [program], TransLink—when the U-Pass BC program came along—re-ally wanted to tighten that up,” said Ken Hardie, director of communica-tions for TransLink.

“This agreement helps reduce the financial risk of passes being used when they shouldn’t be, as well as passes being sold,” said Kate Trotter, public affairs officer for the BC Ministry of Transport, in an email.

If universities are distribut-ing passes monthly, they still must prove that less than 15 per cent of their students are dropping out per semester to avoid a provincial review.

“This didn’t exist before, this is only with the new sort of hyper-accounting that is required in this new program,” McElroy said, comparing it to how you don’t get tuition or AMS fees back after the add/drop courses date. “It’s frustrating, but it’s a TransLink requirement.” U

E-transfer error totals $2.1 million Paper towel composting comes to an end

COURTESY AMS SUSTAINABILITY

FEES >>

TRANSIT >>

SUSTAINABILITY >>

530 UBC students overcharged for tuition, housing and Go Global

4 | News | 01.09.2012

Veronika BondarenkoContributor

It’s an early morning in Agassiz, BC. The sun bakes the earth, and a faint wind carries the hot smell of hay and cattle over the valley. Tucked away in the small Fraser Valley community of Agassiz is the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre, who recently received a $250,000 donation from the Bank of Montréal to continue their research on the dairy industry.

Housing over 500 cattle on 155 hectares of land, the centre, which is part of UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, is the largest dairy cattle research facility in Canada. According to faculty mem-ber Dan Weary, they will be using the grant money “to craft a vision for dairying suitable for the coming decades.”

“We have had students work and study at the Dairy Centre from over 30 countries over the past decade,” said centre operations manager Nelson Dinn.

“Working at the DERC is very hands-on,” said Katy Proudfoot, a PhD student who is currently both living and working at the centre.

“You quickly become engrossed in the day-to-day workings of a dairy farm, as you simultaneously run research projects and complete farm chores as payment for your housing on the farm.”

The centre’s three main research areas include animal welfare, animal reproduction and nutrient recovery. “Through these research focus areas, our research teams provide science-based results to questions on dairy operations,” said Dinn. “Ultimately, these results give

dairy producers the necessary tools to make the best decisions for his/her cattle and the ways in which they are managed.”

The centre hopes to be able to apply new research in a way that maximizes cow health, welfare and production. “To date, almost no research has addressed this gap between science and practice,” said Weary.

“Our proposed focus will be developing and testing the efficacy of different extension methods for practices related to lameness, heifer rearing and other issues in cattle welfare.”

The Bank of Montréal announced its commitment in mid-December.

“We appreciate the research that is being done at the centre,” said Bank of Montréal financial group representative Laurie Grant.

“They are good clientele that we would like to support.”

Dinn said the money will help establish additional classroom space, a move that will allow more graduate students to join the centre’s ever-expanding research team, and hopes it will “provide a critical link with UBC’s Point Grey campus.” U

Student found murdered in Huatulco, Mexico

Student rep takes seat on DPBAMS upset over lack of input in shortlist process

Micki CowanNews Editor

The recent murder of a UBC PhD student in Mexico has saddened the university community and shown the more dangerous side of traveling abroad.

UBC student Ximena Osegueda was working on her thesis in Hispanic studies. She went miss-ing on December 14 in Huatulco, Mexico, according to CTV.

She was found next to another body, identified as Alejandro Honorio Santamaria. Both victims were stabbed in the neck and set on fire, according to Manuel de Jesus Lopez, an attorney general in Oaxaca.

It has not been confirmed whether Osegueda was in Mexico for UBC-related business.

Police say there is evidence of criminal operations in that area.

Janet Teasdale, senior director of

Student Development at UBC, said that all students who travel as part of UBC programs or research are informed about safety risks in the country they are visiting.

“Every student at UBC is asked to register themselves when they are going abroad.

“As part of that registry, if it is a country of risk, they’re informed about the kind of risks they can ex-perience and are prepared for those risks,” she said.

According to Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Mexico is currently only a level-two risk country on a scale of one to four, and visitors are instructed to exer-cise a high degree of caution.

Teasdale said there have not been a lot of issues with students traveling in Mexico aside from a few illnesses, and no other issues of similar proportions.

“It’s a terrible shock for every-body on campus to have something so tragic happen to a student who was here,” said director of UBC Public Affairs Lucie McNeill.

McNeill said UBC is working to give support to students and faculty connected to Osegueda.

“Counseling services have been available to people should they request it, or any group on campus who is looking to organize some kind of a memorial or who feel they want a place to gather to remember her...the university would support that.”

Teasdale said the the university undergoes a certain protocol when dealing with a tragedy.

“[The protocol] includes every-thing from the considerations of the individual student—for example, their student record, their financial debt to the university, all of those

aspects you can imagine—right through to the level of the depart-ment and the level of the university in the ways in which we can support students who may be impacted or deeply affected by the incident,” she said.

Osegueda’s advisor at UBC

was assistant professor Jon Beasley-Murray.

In an interview with CTV, Beasley-Murray said, “What hap-pened to Ximena is a great tragedy and a huge loss...She will be very much missed in the department here at UBC.” U

UBC withholds whether Ximena Osegueda’s travel was connected to her studies

UBC receieves $250,000 grant for dairy industry research

Kalyeena MakortoffNews Editor

The board in charge of approv-ing development projects in UBC’s seven residential neighbourhoods appointed a new student represen-tative last month. But the AMS is upset that they weren’t properly consulted in the selection process.

Third-year master of architec-ture student Ellen Wardell was selected to serve as the student representative for the Development Permit Board (DPB) by Campus and Community Planning (CCP), and was officially appointed by the Board of Governors on December 1, 2011. While the selection process stipulates AMS participation in the shortlisting of candidates, AMS VP Academic Matt Parson said he didn’t have any hand in choosing Wardell.

“Not to take anything away from the successful candidate who got se-lected, but the process itself was not what the AMS had hoped for and I hope that for the next time that the student rep of the board gets select-ed, that the proper procedure that was agreed upon in the inception of this position is carried through,” said Parson.

Parson said that the AMS found out about the position re-opening through an advertisement in The Ubyssey. He was later told that the AMS would be involved in the short-list process, but said the selection went through without AMS input.

CCP director Joe Stott said that because only four reasonable appli-cants came forward, the AMS would have been involved in trimming the selection down by one applica-tion. Furthermore, the manager

of development services for CCP, Karen Russell, said she tried to contact the AMS, but Parson didn’t return their emails or phone calls.

“I’ve gone through my email archive,” said Parson, “and I don’t have any record of CCP contacting me. All I had was a generic email blast-out for a call for submissions for the position.” As for the missed phone calls, Parson said he couldn’t speak to that.

It was the AMS that originally pushed for the creation of the stu-dent position in 2007, five years after the board was created.

Stott said it wasn’t quite clear why students wanted a seat on the DPB, which does not deal with de-velopment policy.

“There was quite a bit of debate about this three years ago when the students asked to have a seat on the board…What kind of voice do the students need on a technical analy-sis of a building? Sure, as I say, she can bring that perspective, but it’s

not like it’s political when it gets to the development permit board. It’s a technical analysis,” said Stott.

“I should remind everybody that the Advisory Planning Committee for the neighbourhood plan includ-ed student representation...That’s where the policy is sorted out.”

For her part, Wardell said she is open to bringing student develop-ment concerns to the table. “I’m still getting accustomed to what exactly my job will be…[but] I would love to get in touch with the AMS and meet with them. And if they would want me to come to consultation meetings…I’d be really interested to get some direct feedback from them,” said Wardell.

“I didn’t realize they hadn’t had the proper hand in my selection.”

Wardell holds two bachelor’s degrees in community planning and physical geography with a focus on climatology and hydrology. She plans to serve on the DPB for a year and a half. U

While Osegueda was a UBC PhD student, the university has not confirmed whether she was in Mexico for university-related studies.SCREENSHOT/WORDPRESS.COM

RESEARCH >>CAMPUS PLANNING >>

CRIME >>

PETER WOJNAR PHOTO/THE UBYSSEY

What happened to Ximena is a great trag-

edy and a huge loss...She will be very much

missed in the depart-ment here at UBC.

Jon Beasley-Murray, Osegueda’s UBC advisor

COURTESY UBC DAIRY EDUCATION

National 01.09.2012 | 5

Justin FauteuxThe Cord (Wilfrid Laurier University)

WATERLOO (CUP)—Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty paid a visit to the Wilfrid Laurier University campus on January 5, bringing with him some news that university and college students across Ontario had a keen eye on.

McGuinty announced the official launch of the Ontario tuition grant, an election promise the Liberals made in the fall to offer just over 300,000 students a 30 per cent

rebate on their tuition. Starting today, Ontario post-secondary students can log into the tuition grant website to see if they qualify for a grant that will total $800 for university students and $365 for college students.

Following the end of this aca-demic year, the rebate, which will cost the government $423 million annually, will grant $1600 annually to university students and $700 a year to those in college.

“The foundation of our strength

here in Ontario remains the skill and education level of our people,” McGuinty told reporters after joining Laurier president Max Blouw, Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union President Nick Gibson and Kitchener Centre Liberal MPP John Milloy in ad-dressing a first-year business class before meeting with members of the WLU young Liberals.

“The message that we’re sending to young people is that we want to do more to help you go to college

and university. Not only is it in [students’] interest but it’s in our in-terest as we develop a stronger and more competitive economy.”

The grant, however, is not with-out its caveats.

It is restricted to full-time un-dergraduate or college students who are less than four years out of high school and whose parents’ combined incomes is less than $160,000. This excludes part-time, graduate and mature students.

In all, roughly 310,000 college and university students across Ontario will qualify for the grant. This accounts for approximate-ly 52 per cent of the total stu-dent population in the province, which, according to the Ontario Undergraduate Students Alliance, is about 600,000.

The $423 million cost of this tu-ition rebate has directed criticism to the Liberals, who currently face a $16 billion deficit.

“I don’t think we can afford this tuition cut,” said Progressive Conservative MPP for Cambridge Rob Leone.

“At this point in time, we have a $16 billion deficit; we need to fix that problem before we start creat-ing these new ideas about where we’re going to spend money.”

Leone went on to say that though this grant program may create more opportunities for young people to go to university or col-lege, it doesn’t help with youth unemployment.

“We need to make sure that [students] are finding jobs when they’re done school,” he said.

“We don’t see a proper jobs plan...These students, once they’re done [school], are going to have a whole lifetime of paying for the ex-cesses of this government.”

Liberals roll out tuition grant Premier visits Laurier University to announce tuition rebate

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty visited Wilfred Laurier University tp announce his government’s plan to offer a 30 per cent tuition. NICK LACHANCE/THE CORD

Andrew JeffreyThe Gateway (University of Alberta)

EDMONTON (CUP)—A handful of University of Alberta classes have introduced Wikipedia to their classrooms as a teaching resource this past semester, challenging criti-cisms of the website’s credibility in educational institutions.

The initiative to integrate Wikipedia into classes began in the United States with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Wikipedia Education Program, but has expanded globally to include classes in Canada and India. Professors use the website by replacing traditional writing or research assignments with students writing Wikipedia articles or im-proving pre-existing pages.

“In addition to getting all the benefits from a traditional research assignment, [students] are also learning new media literacy skills. They’re being exposed to a grow-ing Wiki culture, and they’re being exposed to a very real and very relevant social media phenomenon,” said Jonathan Obar, Wikipedia’s educations coordinator for Canada.

Paula Marentette is one U of A professor who uses Wikipedia for her classes. Marentette, who had never used Wikipedia before the start of this term, sees the benefits in the program, but is measured with her praise.

“From my perspective, this will make [students’] writing more meaningful to them. In a discipline like psychology, students think of an essay as something they write for me, and really that’s very true,” Marentette said.

“Few other people will read that work they do in a typical class essay. Here, students were thrilled and scared to hear that other people will read this.”

Wikipedia makes its way into the classroom

ALBERTA >> ONTARIO >>

McGill taps into video games for cancer researchSarah Deshaies CUP Quebec Bureau Chief

MONTREAL (CUP)—Imagine if all the hours you spent moving co-loured blocks on Tetris or cultivat-ing wheat on FarmVille actually led to something productive—terminal disease research, perhaps?

Two McGill University academ-ics are tapping into our appre-ciation for casual video games in order to further research into ill-nesses like cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.

Jérôme Waldispuhl and Mathieu Blanchette launched Phylo in November 2010, and 17,000 regis-tered users have played the game since. Collectively, those users have produced information which was released last December that researchers can use to improve knowledge about genetic disorders.

Waldispuhl, whose personal gaming preferences involve Civilization and Playstation, came up with the idea while he played games on his laptop as a break from work every few hours: “I was asking myself, how can I use this energy in these casual games to do something useful?”

The computer scientist explained it like this: “Basically, solving a

puzzle is solving a problem. If you can find the equivalence between the problem you’re solving in your puzzle, and another problem, you can re-use the solution to do something.”

Phylo is a simple, Tetris-like game where players line up blocks

in colours of orange, purple, blue and green on either their computer, mobile or tablet device. Each block is human DNA, and all the genetic information is sourced from the University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser.

A line of DNA blocks represents

a genetic sequence. Underneath is a sequence from another species, and the goal is to line up blocks that are the same colour. When this happens, players are forming a genetic sequence alignment; in other words, they’re finding simi-lar genetic regions from different species.

“The thing is that the sequence by itself doesn’t tell us a lot. What we need to understand from this genome—this DNA that we are sequencing—is to compare the DNA from a lot of different spe-cies in order to reveal a similarity between the different DNAs,” said Waldispuhl. As Phylo’s website explains, alignments help scientists trace the evolution of some genetic diseases. Each sequence in the game is thought to be linked to a genetic disorder.

“The goal of Phylo is to pro-duce the data to make the com-parisons of DNA easier,” explained Waldispuhl. Once you complete an alignment, it’s stored and fed back to the “global alignment.”

Meanwhile, you’ll get a message on your screen that reads, “We appreciate your contribution to science: Congratulations! You’ve completed the final stage, and we just submitted your alignment

for this session. You played level 902. The DNA in this puzzle has been linked to: FAMILIAL ARRHYTHMOGENIC RIGHT VENTRICULAR DYSPLASIA.”

Since the game launched, players have produced over 350,000 differ-ent alignment solutions over about 500,000 games. With each game taking about one to two minutes to play, Waldispuhl estimated that a beginner can produce a solution in between 10-15 minutes.

The idea is that humans can do this sort of work better than com-puters. While the human genome itself is too large for a human to completely decode, a computer cannot be relied upon, either. Even completed algorithms designed to do this kind of work aren’t guaran-teed to find all the alignments.

Most of Phylo’s thousands of players are located in North America, with others in Europe and Brazil.

Media coverage has helped spread the word to India and Asia, as well.

But the goal is also to keep a game with a serious objective light-hearted.

“We’re still trying to make it even more fun,” said Waldispuhl. “Fun and creative.”

Phylo allows players to decode genetic sequences, which saves time for researchers. COURTESY OF PHYLO

QUEBEC >>

6 | Feature | 01.09.2012

These are among the many stereotypes that people of Chinese descent face in the world and at UBC. Even when these slurs are not actually verbalized, the underlying stereotypes are undeni-ably still present at our university.

In 2008, a promotional video by a club on campus ignited these tensions. The Chinese Varsity Club (CVC), which often markets itself as the largest student club at UBC, created a vid-eo in the style of the Apple “Mac vs PC” commercials. A fluent English speaker from the CVC played one role and a heavily-accented Chinese student played the other.

The heavily-accented student was described as being from a “typical Honger Club”; “Honger” is a term often used for people from Hong Kong who largely maintain their home culture.

Many students were outraged at what they saw as an attempt to segregate the Chinese community into different cultural categories. The AMS was inundated with complaints, including official complaints from four other Chinese student clubs. In the end, the AMS forced the CVC to write apology letters to the other clubs and go through equity training.

While this is perhaps the best-known example of the conflict that can arise out of the diverse forms of Chinese cultural iden-tity among students on campus, there are many others simmer-ing under the surface.

Yet at the same time, there are also strong feelings among Chinese UBC students that what they have in common is more important than their differences. Whatever divisions exist in language and cultural background—and there are many such

divisions—there is also an opportunity to forge social bonds and explore new ways of identifying as Chinese-Canadian.

Sticking to your own kind

UBC has long been known as a multicultural school, especially in terms of those with Chinese heritage. In September 2011, Alden Habacon, UBC’s director of Intercultural Understanding Strategy Development, told UBC Public Affairs that “one third of UBC students are of Chinese descent.”

According to UBC’s Office of Planning and Institutional Research, China is the largest source of international students by a considerable margin. Out of a current international student population of 7836, 1612 are from China, 163 are from Hong Kong and 139 are from Taiwan.

The Chinese student community can seem uniform to out-siders, but those on the inside quickly grasp its diversity. Some were born in Canada while others have recently arrived as international students; some speak several dialects of Chinese while others have never known the language.

As a consequence of these varying experiences, like-minded students have amalgamated into distinct groups within the Chinese community. In turn, these groups have each associated themselves with different Chinese clubs and organizations, some of them the largest on campus with long-standing his-tories. Over time, the interactions between these groups have provoked debate surrounding the forces driving the cultural separation.

Anson Tsoi, president of YOURS Student Association, a Chinese student group active on both UBC and SFU campuses,

feels that the way Chinese students group together on campus is not necessarily a bad thing.

“I don’t think it is a huge problem for people to stick to their own kind,” says Tsoi. “Even if you’re Asian, you could be from Taiwan, the mainland [China] or Hong Kong. It’s just natural for them to bond in their own groups. But the good thing is [the groups] don’t mind accepting people who are not.”

“I think there is a differentiation between groups, but it’s not always clear as to what those differences are,” says Sharon Lo, a second-year student who has not yet belonged to any Chinese student clubs. “It is a step to acknowledging and understand-ing the dynamics of the Chinese community. People shouldn’t be lumped into one category and only one category just because they look a certain way or speak a certain language.”

The Asian-Canadian Cultural Organization (ACCO) formed as a student club at UBC three years ago to address problems arising from cultural segregation. It aims to raise awareness of pan-Asian social issues and spark intercultural dialogue about cultural assumptions.

“Stereotypes are problematic because on the one hand, they point to the diversity and the differences within one communi-ty—say, the Chinese community, that people assume to be fairly homogeneous,” says Bard Suen, ACCO president. “But I think that when you look deeper into it, you’ll find that there are a lot of differences within each stereotype.”

Yet Suen recognizes that having clubs with certain identities serves a purpose.

“Clubs aren’t being exclusive per se, because anyone can join. I really don’t think that these groups approach the UBC com-munity, and say, ‘We only want to selectively have these groups

By Harriet Ho

China is UBC’s largest source of international students and one third of our student population is of Chinese descent. How do student organizations reflect the diversity and divisions within the Chinese-Canadian community?

Banana. Honger. FOB. Chink.

Finding YourPlace

01.09.2012 | Feature | 7

of people in our group and we don’t want anyone else.’ But I think that people naturally want to play up what they’re proud of and what they’re interested in.”

Dialects creating barriers

One of the biggest factors that creates different cultural identi-ties is language.

There are many distinct dialects from different regions of China in the spoken Chinese language, most notably Cantonese and Mandarin. Students who are fluent in English or mul-tiple Chinese dialects do not find it difficult to communicate. The problems usually arise within populations of new immi-grants and international students who do not possess a strong command of English. These students may have a tendency to converse only in their mother tongues, driving the divisions of groups due to language barriers.

It was language that created the most controversy with the CVC’s 2008 video. The “Honger” student stumbled over the pronunciation of many words, including multiculturalism, and confused the word “variety” with “Viagra.”

“It was a sensitive video,” says Ethan Wong, the CVC’s presi-dent, who points out that the CVC has always been focused on social activities and less on Chinese culture. “We did suffer the consequences of our immaturity there, but I think we definitely learned from it.”

“I think that video was very problematic,” says Suen. “I can see what they were trying to do, which was to break assump-tions about what CVC was like and to separate themselves from what they didn’t want to be identified as. In doing that, they stigmatized a certain group within the Chinese community, like people who don’t have strong English skills.”

“Our club made a major turn and we grew a lot from it, like our cultural identity,” says Wong. “That’s why we’re able to not only be such a big social club, we can somewhat address those cultural issues but [in a smarter way] now with that type of hindsight. We did differentiate ourselves in that term but it was definitely a mistake on our end.”

Different stories to bring

The dichotomy of Chinese and Canadian cultures also creates a divide on campus. How a student straddles this cultural divide often depends on the number of years spent in China or Canada.

For some, memories of their lives in China remain vivid and affect their choices in music, mannerisms and food. Others have grown up entirely in Canada and have never been in touch with their Chinese heritage.

“I find that I associate with the Western lifestyle and culture more easily, having spent my entire life here,” says Lo. “My Chinese heritage is definitely important to me, especially since I have family in Hong Kong, but it isn’t as prominent as it is in other people.”

The CVC, for example, is often associated more with the “Western lifestyle,” and opens its membership to students of all ethnic backgrounds. Other clubs, such as the Chinese Student

Association (CSA), have more students who have lived mostly in China. (The CSA didn’t respond to requests for interviews.)

“[The CVC] does recognize different Asian backgrounds of upbringings in Canada, if someone is a CBC (Canadian-born Chinese) who was born here, or someone who’s from abroad,” says Wong. “As much as it does seem like each club caters to one of those types of groups, I think it’s definitely something that happens on its own. It’s a natural progression.”

The political situation between China and Taiwan can also manifest itself on campus.

“Someone from mainland China and someone from Taiwan have political issues from the two countries,” says Tsoi, the president of YOURS. “They’re born and taught that Taiwanese people might dislike mainland Chinese people, and vice versa, and Hong Kong people will be in the middle. I believe that since we’re in Canada, we should leave all this behind. We’ve all moved on. We’re all considered Canadians.”

Kevin Zhang, the vice-president internal of the CVC, agrees that Chinese students should try to get past those differences. “Everyone has a different story they want to bring. It’s a big melting pot of different stories that you can share with such a diverse group of people. It’s all based on everyone’s personal characteristics.”

Suen thinks that Chinese groups have to take on the re-sponsibility of addressing some of the divisions within the community.

“I really think there should be more cross-pollination be-tween these different groups,” says Suen. “I think there is an immense amount of privilege associated with the Chinese com-munity and they need to recognize that. There is a responsibil-ity to be aware of that privilege but also use that privilege in a way that would further positive community development.

“The Chinese community has a lot of infrastructure that is already set up, so there’s a lot of opportunity for them to do good things.”

Getting to know each other

Although there will always be some conflict in a community with so many different cultural identities, some Chinese stu-dents want to stay focused on what they all have in common.

In his first year, Wong was in the Arts One program and felt that he did not fit in with any particular sub-groups. “As much as I could distinguish those different niches, I wouldn’t have to characterize myself under one of those,” says Wong. “When you get to UBC, you realize that if you start [characterizing your-self], there are so many niches out there. If you really want to meet people, you can’t be picky.

“Joining CVC has made me more aware of those stereotypes and more aware that they are transparent, vague and non-de-script. The social aspect of campus will always trump stereo-types because stereotypes are nothing.”

Tsoi is convinced that as UBC develops even more as an in-ternational institution, the divisions within the community are going to diminish. “The Chinese community is [still] trying to get to know each other,” he says.

“We’re going to become more aware of our role and influence in society,” adds Wong. “The term ‘Chinese’ is so open-ended in Vancouver. The Asian identity will develop to be more mature.”

This sentiment is common among most students of Chinese descent at UBC: despite differences in background, language or cultural interests, every member in the Chinese community can share in the fact that they attend a world-class Canadian university, and wants to take advantage of all the opportunities of multiculturalism that this institution offers.

“It’s hard because a lot of the time, the larger mainstream community wants to have a singular idea of what a group is like,” says Suen. “The struggle comes in where you’re trying to express who you are and have an identity that you’re proud of, and at the same time, you have to say who you’re not.

“I think that’s why there’s so much conflict between differ-ent groups within the Chinese community, because they don’t want to be identified as such. This is not, in their eyes, what be-ing Chinese-Canadian is about.” U

1/3 of UBC students are of Chinese descent At least 12 AMS clubs are primarily for students of Chinese descent

1612 from China

7836 International Students at UBC

163 from Hong Kong 139 from Taiwan

Source: UBC Office of Intercultural Understanding, Strategy and Development, AMS Clubs, Office of Planning and Institutional Research

At left Members of the Chinese Varsity Club (CVC) in their student space in the SUB basement. GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

Above: Scenes from the notorious 2008 CVC promotional video. The video was taken down after it provoked outrage from students and other Chinese student clubs.TAKEN FROM A UBYSSEY VIDEO

At right: Bard Suen, president of the Asian-Canadian Cultural Organization, in the Global Lounge. GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

SportsEditor: Drake Fenton

01.09.2012 | 8

Miraculous UBC comeback leads to weekend sweep

It was not looking good for the Thunderbirds.

Down by two points with two seconds left in Friday night’s game against the University of Alberta Golden Bears, it seemed as if a UBC loss was inevitable. The T-Birds were playing defence after failing to tie the game on what should have been their final possession, and were on the verge of losing their third straight game of the regular season.

The whole crowd, including my-self, may have thought the game was over, but the T-Birds never gave up. Thanks to that attitude, they miracu-lously tied the game and pushed the game to overtime.

After Malcolm Williams forced an inbound violation by Alberta (6-4), UBC (6-2) got the ball back. Williams then proceeded to throw a perfect alley-oop pass to a flying Kamar Burke, who tipped in a lay-up that tied the game just before the clock expired.

The play inspired a team who had struggled for most of the game, and they used that momentum to dominate a deflated Alberta team in overtime, winning 82-71.

If UBC makes a deep run in the playoffs this year, they will look back at this game and that play.

If they had dropped Friday night’s game, the ‘Birds would have fallen to 4-3 in regular season action, erasing a successful 4-0 start. The CIS No. 4

ranked Saskatchewan Huskies were coming to town on Saturday night, providing another tough test for a team who would have entered the game with little momentum.

Instead, No. 7 ranked UBC man-aged to escape the weekend with a 6-2 record after beating 2 higher ranked opponents. And I mean escaped.

The T-Birds by no means played fantastic basketball this past week-end and should consider themselves lucky to have won both games. After making an improbable come-back on Friday night, UBC needed

another hard-fought effort to beat Saskatchewan 69-60 on Saturday night.

The ‘Birds committed 29 turn-overs and gave up 22 offensive rebounds against the Huskies, and at times looked unable to handle Saskatchewan’s pressure. However, UBC played tough defence and held their opponent to a meagre 60 points. And it was precisely because of their defence that UBC emerged victorious.

Head coach Kevin Hanson was amazed that his team managed to pull out the win, and was pleased with how they came through against a tough opponent.

“That was a very explosive team, and to hold a team like that to 60 points is really good,” said Hanson after Saturday’s game.

UBC did an exceptional job of shutting down Alberta’s and Saskatchewan’s top players. Entering the weekend, Jordan Baker of the Golden Bears and Jamelle Barrett of the Huskies were averaging 20.3 and 19.3 points per game respectively, but this weekend UBC forced them off of their games. Baker finished with only 6 points while Barrett shot 4-20 from the floor.

“It took a team effort in order to stop [Barrett], and that’s all you can do to guard a guy like that,” said Hanson. “Overall I’m pretty happy with the defensive effort.”

The games would not have been won without some big plays by some of UBC’s senior players. Burke was all over the court during both games, hauling in rebounds and helping con-trol the offence. He currently leads

the Canada West in rebounding with 11 per game.

Nathan Yu was once again a spark plug on offence, scoring 22 points both nights. During the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game when Saskatchewan was closing in on the ‘Birds, Yu always made sure to answer back and helped preserve the lead.

Williams may just be a first-year, but he has played like a senior this season and continued that strong play this past weekend. His compo-sure on that inbound pass to set up the alley-oop against Alberta was superb, and on Saturday he helped ice the game by draining a clutch three-pointer.

“Once again, I was really im-pressed with [Williams],” said Hanson. “I’m really happy with the minutes he provided.”

UBC desperately needed those wins this weekend. After losing disappointing games before the Christmas break to weaker oppo-nents in Calgary and Lethbridge, the ‘Birds needed to get back on track if they wanted to prove they are a con-tender in the Canada West.

They may not have put forward the effort they wanted to, but a 2-0 weekend against two higher ranked teams is hard to complain about.

What matters most now, though, is that UBC is 6-2. They have proven to themselves and the rest of the conference that they can win tough games, even when they’re not playing their best basketball.

Thanks to that alley-oop, the Thunderbirds are once again one of the best teams in the West. U

UBC’s Kamar Burke blasts up the court during Saturday night’s 69-60 win against Saskatchewan. On Friday, Burke scored a last second alley-oop to force OT and help UBC beat Alberta.JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

T-Bird Standings

B-Ball (W) W L

Sask.AlbertaManitobaLethbridgeBrandonReginaCalgaryWinnipeg

B-Ball (M) W L

Rocking the Rim

CJPentland

East

West

66654332

34456678

966542

124566

VictoriaUBCFraser ValleyTRUTWUUBC- O

EastReginaAlbertaCalgarySask.WinnipegManitobaLethbridgeBrandon

97755320

0334578

10

West

UBCFraser ValleyVictoriaTRUTWUUBC- O

675542

235566

BASKETBALL >>

Bird DroppingsWomen’s basketball: UBC starts new year perfect

This weekend the Thunderbirds showed little rust after the month-long Christmas break, taking down the University of Alberta 73-69 on Friday night and beating the University of Saskatchewan 76-64 on Saturday night.

On Friday night, Canada West scoring leader Kris Young continued her torrid offensive run, scoring a game high 19 points despite sitting out the entire second quarter due to foul trouble.

In that quarter, UBC was drubbed by Alberta 23-10. But in the third quarter Young and the ‘Birds started the frame with an 11-2 run. With the offence click-ing, the T-Birds easily cruised past Alberta for the remainder of the game.

UBC carried momentum into Saturday night’s game and started the contest on a 9-0 run.

Saskatchewan fought back for the remainder of the night, coming within two points in the fourth quarter.

But standout play from Alex Vieweg (17 points) and sharp-shooting from Kristen Hughes (4 for 7 from beyond the arc) propelled UBC to victory, im-proving their record to 6-2 on the season. U

JOSH CURRAN/THE UBYSSEY

CultureEditor: Ginny Monaco

01.09.2012 | 9

Local hot dog chain expands to NYC

Japadog has expanded to New York City.

The Vancouver-based hotdog chain has been steadily grow-ing ever since former Tokyo ad salesman, Noriki Tamura, opened a Japadog food cart on Burrard Street and Smithe in 2005. Back then, the newly immigrated Tamura operated the first Japadog stand with his wife. The hotdogs gained popularity in Vancouver for their Japanese-inspired ingredi-ents, such as seaweed, soy sauce and Kobe beef.

By 2010, Japadog had grown to four food carts and a storefront on Robson Street. Tamura was al-ready planning to expand his hot-dog chain to Japan and the US.

The New York City branch is lo-cated in Manhattan’s East Village.

Vancouver-based artist to have work displayed in China

Chan Tinyan left the Guangzhou Institute of Fine Art in 1962. But 50 years later—44 of those spent in Canada—the successful artist will

be the first from Vancouver to have his work displayed in China.

Chan’s art, which involves tra-ditional Chinese visual elements painted using Western acrylic and oil techniques, will be shown downtown at the International Village Mall, according to the Vancouver Sun. It will then be pre-sented at the Guangdong Institute in March and April.

Chan, a lifetime award winner of the Federation of Canadian Artists, grew up in Hong Kong and spent two years working at a textile manufacturer in Nigeria before going to school in Paris, according to the Sun.

“When I left, I can’t even imag-ine this was ever possible,” Chan said in an interview with the Sun. “I was worried about how to make a living. This wasn’t even a dream at that point.”

Signups for CiTR DJ training sessions

CiTR will be offering digital mix-ing classes starting January 17. Theseries includes four classes, offered weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays.

An information session will be

held on January 10 at 12pm and 4 pm.

More information can be found at citr.ca/index.php/programs/dj-training/.

UBC Rec offers free week of classes

UBC Rec’s free Shopping Week kicks off today and runs through

January 15. During the week, students are

allowed to sit in on Rec classes to determine whether they would like to enroll.

Classes include martial arts and yoga in the Student Recreation Centre Dojo, as well as various dance and fitness classes.

More information is available at rec.ubc.ca. U

Andrew BatesSenior Web Writer

Arts students aren’t as unified as the engineers and have less in com-mon with one another than Science students.

But during Arts Week, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) will try to demonstrate that the faculty is greater than the sum of its parts.

“The thing to remember is that Arts is a huge faculty and a lot of students do identify a lot more specifically with their own depart-ments rather than Arts as a whole,” said Mary Leong, AUS communi-cations coordinator. “Showcasing what people are working on al-lows us to learn more about other departments and bring them all together.”

Festivities begin Monday at 11am in the SUB concourse and events run through Friday. “We’ve got great events from all of our clubs, like anthropology’s got a milk and

cookies evening, telling interesting stories from their research,” Leong said. The club will also host a film night on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the AUS will host “Mr Arts,” a contest it calls a “man pageant.”

“Mr Arts is going to be rad be-cause it has tons of people, tons of fun and silliness, and guys just being themselves and being sincere but also being very, very out there,” said Collyn Chan, AUS philanthro-py coordinator and the organizer of the event.

Proceeds from the contest’s $5 ticket will go to the Canadian Cancer Society. The contest has five facets, including an online vid-eo portion that has already begun and will count for ten per cent of a contestant’s marks.

“People are scored on their plac-ing on how people like their video or comment on their video just to get the word out there,” Chan said. Thirty per cent of a contestant’s

marks will come from an audience vote, and the remaining 60 per cent from a coaching panel made up of two AUS reps and a guest judge from SFU.

The contest involves four rounds, including a suit round, bathing suit round and a talent portion.

“There are a couple of people singing, someone’s going to be flirting with the crowd,” Chan said. “I’ve heard some rumours that someone’s going to speak in their native language, apparently it’s European and exotic. Someone solving a Rubik’s cube while doing something else, some musicians. It’ll be good variety.”

The final round will be a ques-tion and answer session where con-testants answer as many questions as they can in a 30 second lightning round.

The week will conclude with a Mardi Gras event in the SUB ball-room. “[It] was a huge success last year and we’re hoping it’s going to

be fantastic this year as well,” she said. “We’ve got four acts, we’re marketing it as four acts [over] four hours. So we’ve got student DJs each spinning for an hour.” Tickets are $10, with beers going for $2.

Some events previously adver-tised have been cancelled, like Strip Dodgeball. A four-club beer garden called Fourgy was scheduled, but according to the social coordinator of the History Students Association (one of the participating clubs), they did not file a Special Occasion Licence within the two-week deadline.

Other events include a meet and greet with Arts dean Gage Averill on Wednesday, a French Club Crepe Sale and a Math Tug of War. Kiosks with Arts-related merchan-dise will be open in the SUB con-course all week. U

More information can be found at the AUS website: http://aus.arts.ubc.ca/arts-week-2012/

Arts Week brings clubs into the big tent

Arts Briefs

Ginny MonacoCulture Editor

Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada with a briefcase full of secrets in 1945, helping trigger the Cold War. Less than ten years later in 1954, he won a controversial Governor General’s Award for Literary Merit for his novel, The Fall of a Titan .

According to professor Andrew Irvine, the jury had misgivings about the award, one of many to be highlighted next week at UBC’s rare books department. “There was a resignation for the jury as a result. They thought maybe he was being rewarded for his role in the Cold War instead of the literary merits of his novel.”

The Canada Council has chosen 2011/12 to celebrate the 75 year an-niversary of the Governor General’s awards. From Jan 4 to 31, the UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections will host an exhibition titled “75 Years of Controversy,” dis-playing some of the most contentious selections in the award’s history.

Irvine was largely responsible for bringing the display to UBC. “There are a number of displays going up at universities across the country,” he said. “Why not do the same at UBC?”

The Governor General Awards-also know as the GGs—were created by John Buchan, who was Canada’s head of state from 1935-1940 and was himself a novelist. “The feel-ing was that Canadian letters had advanced sufficently that an annual recognition of this kind would be ap-propriate,” Irvine said.

In the 75 years since its incep-tion, nearly 650 titles have won the prestigious award. “We can’t display all of those books,” said Irvine. “We needed some selection procedure and the controversial ones are gen-erally the most interesting ones.”

Irvine will host two lectures to coincide with the exhibit. The first will highlight award-winners that have been largely forgotten by the public but, Irvine said, “are still deserving of recognition. I thought I would just remind members of the audience about these books.”

The second will focus on contro-versial episodes and figures—like Gouzenko—in the award’s history. “Lots of years, it’s not very contro-versial and people are pleased with the winners. But some controversy is a good thing.

“These things should be debated to get a variety of view points,” Irvine said. “Five times, for example, have people been offered the award and they have declined to accept it—usually for political reasons.”

Leonard Cohen famously turned down the award in 1968 when it was offered to him for Selected Poems, 1956-1968.

“[Mordecai] Richler almost punched Cohen for that,” Irvine said. U

CiTR is offering DJ training classes.GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

75 years of controversial awards at UBC Rare Books

UBC>>

Arts Week 2011 was capped off with The Hood Internet headlining Mardi Gras.

WRITERS >>

MICHAEL GOSSELIN/AUS

GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY

OpinionEditor: Brian Platt

01.09.2012 | 10

A proposal from Ronnie Two ShoesEditor’s Note: This is a real letter.

I was wondering if you might pos-sibly have need for the use of a 75-foot wooden boat this summer? It has room for 21 people at most, and comes with two heads and one galley. We could put a big barbecue on the stern deck for grilling steaks and seafood.

Not for me to say, but perhaps it could be used by students to stay on somewhere. Maybe as a base camp for research up the coast or on the Charlottes.

Now suppose you had a group of students who wanted to go up and study swamps in the Charlottes. Well, you’d be in luck because I happen to have one up there which they would be welcome to use (as long as they don’t leave candy wrappers and such). It is 160 acres and half of it is swampy, and it can’t be reached by road; one would have to walk for maybe two-thirds of a mile to get in. I bought it because it was cheap due to the swamp-land, but if you people had some agriculture/permaculture students perhaps they might have some idea what could be planted there or alternately what natural stuff could be harvested. There are also trees but to tell the truth I’ve never been much on cutting down trees.

“Hmm...” you say, sipping your coffee and digging in to your sec-ond donut. “This guy sounds genu-ine. Wonder how much...?”

Cheap. Most boats that size are going to provide a cook and charge a fortune. Not Ronnie Two Shoes, though. Ronnie will get the boat to where you want to go and leave you there in peace until you want to go home. So, let’s say $400 a day plus you pay the expenses. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news

is this is an older navy boat (wood-en, no guns) so you won’t exactly be staying in Buckingham palace. Perfectly adequate though.

Or...some beautiful blue eyed blond girl with literally scores of friends sees this ad and goes home.

“Daddio,” she says, turning on the searchlights, “I’ve had this wonderful idea! I’d like to host the Brynn Beta Alpha Girls Society at our private island this summer and there’s this funky old boat for rent which would be just perrrrfect!”

“No problem,” he smiles fondly, writing a cheque for 100 grand, “Take this for the boat and cater-ing (funnily enough, my sister does catering) and be back in time for school.”

Or you may have some ideas of your own. As long as it’s legal you can count on Ronnie.

Here’s how I see it: You decide to go to the Charlottes and study on my land. The boat gets taken to Queen Charlotte City and docked there, which gives you a place to stay and access to the restaurants and stores of the town. You or I provide a van to take you to and from the property (about 20 miles). That’s it. The students go up there, do their study, have a hell of a good time and come back ready for uni-versity in the fall.

This isn’t a polished sales pitch, just something I thought you might be interested in doing which would benefit you and benefit me. We’re talking responsible students here who can look after themselves.

Sincerely,Ronnie Two Shoes

If you would like to respond to Ronnie Two Shoes’s offer, email feedback@ubyssey.ca and we’ll put you in touch. The Ubyssey accepts no liability for anything that may happens if you say yes to this.

Uncritical boosterism is at odds with real student leadership

Next weekend, the Student Leadership Conference takes place. It’s an annual event where over 1000 students come together to attend a series of workshops and speeches, most of them by other students. The idea is to develop their potential, meet other student leaders and so on.

The current promotion for the conference is a campaign called “UBC is Awesome.” On the post-ers and in the video, things listed as “awesome” include “places to nap” (which means 100 per cent of park benches could be classified as “awesome”), “trees, trees, trees!” (of which UBC has cut down many acres in the last 30 years) and “the T-Birds” (which, based on attendance rates, students find much less awesome than most universities in Canada).

But we digress. The point is, the Student Leadership Conference is about helping students network, be inspired and learn how to be better leaders. It shouldn’t be about promot-ing the alleged awesomeness of UBC.

In reality, any effective student leader will find things lacking on campus, and work hard with all groups to find a solution. Insipid, uncritical boosterism under the pretense of leadership is many things (among them, hilarious), but defi-nitely not awesome.

You really did it this time, BeanStream

Since the end of December, over 500 students have been acciden-tally charged a total of $2.1 million in tuition and housing fees. So far, UBC has done a commendable job in responding quickly and making sure the affected students are compen-sated and looked after.

Mistakes happen, of course, and we can only imagine the panic that must have set in when university administrators realized what had occurred.

But we also can’t help but think that this was somewhat inevitable.

The third-party company that processed the transactions is called BeanStream. BEANSTREAM.

Seriously, can we talk about this name for a bit? It sounds like the worst of the 90s tech bubble start-ups. It sounds like a hipster coffee house where creative writing stu-dents play bongo drums on open mic nights.

Actually, it sounds like one of the AMS businesses in the new SUB: “Want to grab a burger at the Flipside?” “Dude, let’s go to Boom! Pizza or the BeanStream instead. And then we’ll head down to the skatepark and play some Pogs.”

Alright, we know, don’t judge a book by its cover. But if a company can’t come up with a better name than that for itself, we say don’t trust it with millions and millions of dollars of our money.

Giddy up, it’s election season

Over the next three weeks, this paper will be filled with informa-tion about ambitious young keeners working to out-campaign each other and, if tradition holds, engag-ing in various shenanigans to win their race.

We speak, of course, about the AMS elections. Your student union is electing new people to run ev-erything (nominations close this week), and it seems every year some giant scandal happens. In 2009, the winner of the presidential race was disqualified by Elections Administrator (EA) Sarina Rehal, then undisqualified by the Student Court. In 2010, hundreds of votes were fraudulently cast by a com-puter program, which EA Isabel Ferreras didn’t realize until two weeks after the election took place; a couple of the races had their re-sults changed afterward.

And in 2011, Bijan Ahmadian (2010 president) and Jeremy McElroy (2011 president) engaged in a nasty, anonymous and slander-ous battle, which resulted in plenty of outrage and exactly zero candi-dates being disqualified by EA Erik

McKinnon.The EA has the job of making

sure the election is fair and runs smoothly. They’ve failed at their job pretty much every year since 2007. This year’s EA is Carolee Changfoot, and we sincerely wish her the best of luck in her job. Because if history is any indication, she’s going to need it.

U-Pass follies continue

TransLink has long been unhappy with aspects of the U-Pass pro-gram. In particular, they were well aware of the tricks students pulled to wiggle out of paying for their passes, which are already much cheaper than the monthly passes most Vancouverites have to buy.

There were two common ways students took advantage of the U-Pass program.

The first was to “lose” their pass, give it to a friend and then pay the relatively small replacement fee. The second was to sign up for courses, get their U-Pass and then drop all of the courses but keep the pass.

Switching to a monthly system will mostly stop both of these prob-lems, as our news story in this issue outlines.

But what still amazes us is that after all of this work to stop U-Pass corruption, TransLink still shoots itself in the foot on the basic stuff. Namely, each monthly U-Pass is only barely distinguishable from the previous month’s: the only change is a new month’s name, printed in black font on a dark blue background. Sometimes the colour of the “U” is different.

In other words, it’s not hard to get away with using an expired U-Pass.

We’re not complaining too much, having often been too poor to af-ford summer bus passes ourselves. But considering all the work that’s been done to switch over to a monthly pass system, it makes us skeptical that TransLink is ever go-ing to get this program right. U

The Last WordParting shots and snap judgments on today’s issues

Letters

Have you ever noticed that some-times the doors on the bus just won’t open, no matter how hard you push? And then the bus starts to pull away and you have to yell out, “Back door!” to everyone’s annoyance.

Other times, the doors simply refuse to close even when nobody’s touching them, and then the bus has to wait and once again, every-one’s annoyed.

Why does this always seem to happen? Chances are, you or your transit-riding comrades are using the doors the wrong way without even knowing it.

Many people don’t realize that most of the new fleet of buses are equipped with motion sensors, not touch sensors. This is mostly due to misleading signage. The stickers still say “Place hand here” or even “touch here to open,” but doing so will often fail to open the door. The

correct technique is instead to wait until the green light turns on, and then sweep your hand in front of the panel, like some kind of slow-motion slap. Then the pneumatic hiss tells you you’re good to go.

It’s a somewhat counterintui-tive change from the old push-bar system, and it has the unfortunate side-effect that anybody’s backpack can also trigger the sensor by ac-cident. On a crowded bus, this can lead to long delays–especially when the perpetrator isn’t aware of the problem.

So why doesn’t it always work when you just push? If your hand is already in front of the sensor by the time the green light turns on, it won’t detect any movement; no matter how hard you push, the doors won’t open.

Hopefully, enough people will find this little note helpful that it will cut a few minutes from every-body’s commute and avoid frustra-tion. U—Jacob Bayless is a fifth-year engi-neering physics student.

Why the damn bus door won’t openPerspectives>> Jacob Bayless

ALBERTINA WONG/THE UBYSSEY

01.09.2012 | 11ScenePictures and words on your university experience

Detoxing and the post-holiday slump

The Christmas holidays had me relaxed to the point of being unable to communicate. Returning to the written word is a bittersweet ven-ture out from the layers and layers of beautiful fat-laden meals and all-encompassing couch sessions.

I had forgotten that returning to the homeland meant a few IVs of red wine, platters full of veni-son and all the types of raw sheep cheese, blue cheese and Brillant-Savarin a woman could ever hope to put on a piece of toast. I saw this woman in a Montreal restaurant, under an exclamation of frizzy hair and behind thick round glasses, suck the meat off a chicken car-cass. It was visceral.

And it seems that it’s only in the pit of -20 degree weather that eat-ing bone marrow with sea salt on toast feels completely justifiable. That, combined with the lethargy of not moving much beyond the path from my bed to the couch and multiple nights of 12 hour sleeps, have me completely recovered for this term.

So recovered that I was blissful-ly unaware classes started on the 4th until the 5th.

Nonetheless, we’re all back. We’re ready for some more of that sweet, sweet academia. We have apocalyptic resolutions, perhaps to go forth and set the world afire.

But to even attempt these major changes, we’ll have to cleanse the holiday sluggishness from our systems.

If you are a yoga practitioner or even just someone who likes to stretch, add twists to your personal practice. By allowing the breath to open the entirety of the spine, twists can increase body tempera-ture and massage your organs, par-ticularly your liver.

A way to stimulate your diges-tive system, according to Suzanne Menard, a yoga teacher at Studios Lyne St-Roche in Montreal, is through a dynamic halasana series (plow pose). It is a simple vin-yasa to be repeated a few times in which, on the inhale, you roll back into plow and on the exhale, you roll the length of your spine forward and into any forward bend of your choosing, whether it be a badokonasana (bound ankle pose) or paschimottanasana (forward fold). However, any way you’d like to get your sweat on is a great way to get back in gear.

In terms of what you put in your bellies, Leentje Deleuil, a nutri-tionist with the Desrosiers Clinic (also in my homeland), proposes a diet heavy on dark greens and eliminating, if only for four to six weeks, eggs, milk and wheat prod-ucts (including processed foods). Your body will feel lighter and your skin will clear up.

In the midst and bliss of your return, may you find the motions to feed your body what it needs! Happy 2012! Go forth and conquer. U

A simple diet and workout are key to beating January malaise

STUDENT BODY >>

HappyHealthy Horny

Raeven Geist-Deschamps

Corrections• In the January 4 edition of The Ubyssey, the feature “Knocked Out” ran in print without a byline. It was written by Kaan Eraslan. The Ubyssey regrets the error.

• In the December 5, 2011 issue of The Ubyssey, the article “Research no longer required for tenure at UBC” reported that this was the first time that tenure was provided to teaching positions. The new professor in teaching rank has no link to tenure. Instructors have been able to get tenure when they are promoted to senior instructor, which has been taking place at UBC for over 20 years. However, the rank of professor of teaching is new at UBC. The Ubyssey regrets the error.

• In the January 4, 2012 issue of The Ubyssey, the article “Arts in Brief” incorrectly referred to Gene Ramsbottom’s “Out For Lunch” concert series as “Out to Lunch.” While the UBC School of Music oc-casionally participates in the con-certs, the initiative was created by sessional instructor Ramsbottom without funding from the universi-ty. The concerts are held inside the VAG and are free to its members. The Ubyssey regrets the error.

SFU and UBC players entangle in the first game of a two-game exhibition series last weekend. Dubbed the inaugural “University Classic,” it marks the only time this year that UBC will face SFU, who play in the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL), a division which includes Trinity Western University and Okanagan College. With the Clan winning the first game 3–1 and UBC responding with a 3–1 victory of their own on Saturday, the Classic was decided in a shootout, with SFU prevailing in the fourth round. Pick up Thursday’s issue of The Ubyssey for full details.

ERIC INASI/THE UBYSSEY

CROSSTOWN SHOWDOWN >>

12 | Games | 01.09.2012

Across1- A dish with many ingre-dients 5- Attack a fly 9- Disconcert 14- Ripped 15- Mata _ 16- Rate 17- Support beam 18- Extend 20- Flirt 22- Brit. lexicon 23- Bottom of the barrel 24- Mex. miss 26- Heroic adventure tale 28- Temerity 32- Pertaining to the mind 36- Be in debt 37- Praying figure 39- Bring out 40- Makes lace 42- Clogs, e.g. 44- Complacent 45- Betelgeuse’s constella-tion 47- Angry 49- 401(k) alternative 50- Pay as due 52- Having three feet 54- Islamic call to prayer 56- Split 57- “The Clan of the Cave Bear” author 60- Chatter 62- Resounds 66- Seaplane 69- As to 70- Curt 71- Kiln for drying hops 72- Approached 73- Handle 74- Gusto 75- Break, card game

Down1- Auricular 2- Timber wolf

3- Oil-rich nation 4- Attack 5- Breaks 6- Move from side to side 7- Golden Fleece ship 8- Wearies 9- Prince Valiant’s son 10- Barren area 11- End in _ ____(draw) 12- Dimensions 13- Makes a row? 19- According to the Bible, he was the first man 21- Cube creator Rubik 25- Japanese beer brand 27- “Fancy that!” 28- Chopper topper 29- Alert 30- Take hold 31- Nasal grunt

33- Bombastic 34- Legend maker 35- Juridical 38- Eye drops 41- Member of a lay society 43- Short dagger 46- Pince- ______ 48- Heroic 51- Sturdy wool fiber 53- Morals 55- Influential person 57- PM times 58- Peter Fonda title role 59- Bronte heroine 61- Male swine 63- Son of Judah 64- Humorist Bombeck 65- Leak slowly 67- “The Matrix” hero 68- Faulkner’s “ _ Lay Dying”

UIt’s cold outsideBut it’s Vancouver, so things aren’t even snowy or nice looking. It’s just rainy all the time and it destroys your shoes. Know where it’s warm?

A UBYSSEY STAFF MEETING! TUESDAYS @ 12, SUB 24

Puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com. Used with permission.

Crossword Sudoku (Intermediate)

Answers

UNow hiringThe Ubyssey, UBC’s student news-paper, is looking for a Webmaster to oversee technical maintenance and development of its website. Working under the Managing Edi-tor, Web, the Webmaster must be able to fix issues with the website as they arise, and be available to add, delete and modify blogs, plugins and other additions.

A successful candidate will be extremely proficient with HTML, CSS and the WordPress platform, able to build a WordPress theme from scratch, understand PHP and make programmatic modifi-cations, comfortable with using a hosting backend such as Cpanel, know FTP, and understand javas-cript and jQuery.

The Webmaster will be paid $600 monthly during the winter semester, and will be paid on retainer during the summer semester. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to feedback@ubyssey.ca. The hired candidate will be trained by the current Webmaster, and must be a cur-rent UBC student.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 5PM, JANUARY 23