Arar speaks at the Chan - UBC Library

U
THE UBYSSEY
Vol.LXXXVIII N°40
Sitting on Sulphur
Mysterious new deep sea fish
discovered. Page 3
Indesign and Unimedia, pain in the ass since 1918
www.ubyssey.bc.ca
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
Sweep success for t-birds basketball
Stupider like a Foxx
Jamie nails comedy, singing falls flat.
Men, women break out brooms against Uvic, SFU in Pacific
division finals. Pages 6, 8 & 9
Page 5
Arar speaks at the Chan
Canadian attitudes towards torture helped release him, he says
by Leah Poulton
News Staff
The difference between Canadian
and American attitudes towards
foreign policy are partially responsible for the outcome of his
case, said Maher Arar in a public
address at UBC’s Chan Centre last
Friday.
Arar, who was recently awarded over ten million dollars in
compensation from the Canadian
government, said if the Canadian
public did not differ significantly
from their American counterparts
in their views towards human
rights, his case may have ended
quite differently.
“My story could have been ignored as an unfortunate, but necessary part of heightened national
security,” he said.
He pointed out the differences
in the reception of his story in the
two countries.
“The [American] public is much
more tolerant of fundamental
violations of human rights in the
name of security,” he said.
When the public takes their
rights and freedoms for granted,
it is easy to cast them aside in
the name of national security,
said Arar.
“Human rights and civil rights
we have taken for granted are very
fragile,” he continued.
“If we choose to remain complacent, we lose them.”
Arar, a Canadian citizen, was
arrested in the US in 2002 and labeled as a member of a terrorist
organisation based on informa-
tion provided by the RCMP. He
was deported to Syria, where he
was jailed and tortured for ten
months. He was released and allowed to return to Canada only after extensive campaigning by his
wife and legal team.
Arar, who says his experience
in Syria “seems like fiction,” credits the Canadian public with his release and homecoming in October
of 2003.
“Despite the uncertainty of our
times, Canadians are fair-minded,
opposed to injustice and not afraid
to speak out,” he said.
An official inquiry into Canadian officials’ roles in the affair was
launched in 2004, in which Arar
was cleared of any ties with terrorist organisations.
The inquiry resulted in a list of
comprehensive recommendations
for improving the investigation
process, while also protecting civil
liberties of Canadian citizens.
There was also an independent
review of his claims of torture,
titled, the “Commission of inquiry
into the actions into the actions of
Canadian officials in relation to
Maher Arar,” which was headed by
UBC President Stephen Toope.
“It becomes crystal clear that
for Canadians, the inquiry was a
victory…but unlike most victories,
there is no loser,” Arar said.
However, he continued that
the Canadian government still has
work to do when it comes to foreign policy.
He stressed the importance of
see “Arar” page 2.
University
boulevard:
an arduous
process
University officials
confident construction
will start this June, AMS
President disagrees
by Colleen Tang
News Editor
UBC is waiting. Its $87 million
University Boulevard project redesign, if completed, could receive
a green light at the May Board of
Governors (BoG) meeting.
The architectual competition
that was announced in October 2004 still has not produced
a finalised preliminary design
scheme completed by the new architects, who have been working
on it for the past year.
According to a 2005 fact sheet
written by the External Affairs
office, University Square—the first
phase of the project—will include
the underground transit terminal, office, retail and commercial
space as well as administration
and executive offices for University Administration. The phase
is projected to be completed by
February 2008.
“I don’t think [the architects] have quite
got it yet and they’re
working on it.”
not tolerated: RCMP arrived at the Student Union Building when a brawl occured.
Kellan Higgins photo
Fisticuffs break out at Gallery Lounge
These things
happen, says AMS
president
by Brandon Adams
News Editor
At approximately 10:45pm on
February 16 a brawl broke out in
the Gallery Lounge that spilled out
into the Student Union Building
(SUB) main concourse. According
to Alma Mater Society (AMS) security staff, the fight involved approximately 30 individuals—most
of whom were not UBC students,
said Gallery staff. One member of
the security staff was bleeding after being struck in the head with a
broken bottle.
The fight boiled out into the
SUB main concourse as SUB
security staff attempted to control
the fight. Several individuals were
seen running from the scene. The
RCMP arrived and arrested one
individual and diffused a group
of angry individuals, some of
whom were throwing beer bottles
and rocks.
“My understanding was that it
was a big fight. These things happen I guess,” said AMS President
Jeff Friedrich, “but from an AMS
perspective, we’re fully committed
to a safe environment to come and
party or drink.”
Friedrich said that there were
concerns about whether or not
the rowdy pub-goers were UBC
students.
“When I read the incident
report there was some speculation about where the students may
have been from.”
Friedrich said that if the claims
that off-campus individuals were at
the root of this fight and past fights
prove true then the AMS might
consider other options to provide
students with a safe environment.
“I think we are going to wait to
hear back from the RCMP. If we get
a message back from them that this
is an off-campus group and this is
consistently happening, then we’re
going to need to take steps to take
a look at it.”
“We have our fights,” said Friedrich in reference to the history
of incidents at AMS venues like
the Gallery Lounge and Pit Pub.
Incidents have ranged from a
brawl involving members of last
year’s UBC men’s basketball team
to a serious scare involving a handgun toting partier from Surrey.
After the incident, Friedrich
said, both the Gallery Lounge and
the Pit Pub were shut down for
the night.
Neither RCMP nor the Gallery
staff were available for comment
by press time.U
Between the sheets: rapists, fish and breaking records!
Joe Redmond,
Vice-President UBC
PropertiesTrust
According to Joe Redmond, vice
president of UBC Properties Trust,
construction is supposed to start
this June and the underground
sewer, electrical work as well as
the bus terminal is to be completed over the next six months.
“I think what’s key that definitely has to work and has to be built is
the bus terminal,” he added. “That
is a commitment that the University made that its whole growth
and planning is based on…It’s a
terminus for major transportation
in the greater Vancouver district
so that is absolutely essential.”
Despite revisions to the plan,
Redmond maintains that the vision for the space has remained
see “Boulevard” page 2.
News
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
AMS president not in support of current
drawings
“Boulevard” continued from page 1. ect will not get revenue returns
Black hand strikes again
Alma Mater Soceity President Jeff Friedrich was greeted to a
barn in his new office. Kellan Higgins photo
Arar says his experience in Syria seems like fiction
“Arar” continued from page 1.
creating a set of foreign affairs
policies that are distinct from
those of the US.
“We are different from Americans, so we should deal with problems our own way,” he added.
“We need to change the way we
stand up for our citizens abroad.”
He noted that the best way to
achieve this is to actively implement the recommendations of his
commission, especially those that
propose the establishment of an
independent oversight agency for
all Canadian agencies that collect
intelligence, including the RCMP.
“The existence of an oversight
agency could have prevented the
RCMP from sending false information about me to their American
counterparts or, at a minimum,
could have made a huge difference when it came to correcting
the record early on,” Arar said on
his website.
He also said he would not be
opposed to the idea of a book or
movie chronicling his story.
There will be additional official inquiries launched in the
near future into similar cases of
three other Canadian citizens who
were previously held on security
certificates. U
‘tweens
UBC International
Week: Myths
and Legends: Stories
and Teas
From Around the World
Feb. 27, 4:00-7:00pm
SUB Room 207/209
Hear myths and legends
from around the world
while enjoying
a delicious, warm cup.
Free admission
Borealis String Quartet
with Rena Sharon
Mar. 2, 8:00-10:00pm
School of Music Recital Hall
Three violinists, a cellist, and
Rena Sharon on the piano
create an enjoyable evening
of music.
$20 adults/$10 students
and seniors
Adapt or Die: Multiplatform Journalism,
the BBC, and the Battle
for Audiences
Feb.27, 12:30-2:00pm
UBC School of Journalism
(6388 Crescent Road)
Have lunch with Rachel
Nixon, deputy world
editor of BBCNews.com.
Free admission
Lecture by Jacques
Marc
Feb. 28, 7:30pm
Vancouver Maritime Museum
(1905 Ogden)
Listen to a lecture by this
archaeologist of the sea.
Admission by donation
Alex WaterhouseHayward
Feb. 27, 12:00-1:00pm
UBC Botanical Garden
Reception Centre
Listen to a talk by this photographer whose work has
been shown in Vanity Fair,
the New York Times, and the
Georgia Straight. Focus of
the talk will be on his photography of nature.
$5 admission at the door
The Complete
Improvised Works
of Bill Shakespeare
1585 Johnston Street,
Granville Island
Start the weekend laughing with the Vancouver
Theatresports League’s performance of Shakespeare’s
complete works.
Wed. and Fri. $16 and $12
Sat. $18 and $15
the same.
“It’s a primary university user
entrance and I think the square
is to try to provide a centre or
core to the university user,” he
said adding that residential and
rental student housing has been
increased with the project.
In regards to the grassy knoll,
Redmond mentions the potential for two knoll-like features to
take shape within the plans. One
could be located in front of the
Wesbrook building and one facing the plaza.
“I think these aren’t the same
and I wouldn’t just call them the
grassy knoll but I think these are
two features that will be very
interesting in the way they get
used,” he said.
Both Redmond and Dennis
Pavlich, UBC VP External and Legal Affairs, agree that work still
needs to be done on the University Boulevard project.
“I don’t think [the architects]
have quite got it yet and they’re
working on it,” said Redmond.
“They did one sketch and we
didn’t like it. They put a lot of
work into that but we didn’t feel
like they did it so then they came
with another and we said, okay
but you need to do some more,
and that’s exactly where they’re
at,” said Pavlich.
According to Pavlich, the plaza is not going to have a covered
atrium because it is too costly.
“That’s a very expensive feature. What we’re asking them to
do is to design it without it,” he
said. “We’re very hopeful that a
donor will come and do it but
unfortunately we can’t build it
with the revenues that we’re going to reach from the property
right now.”
Pavlich added that the proj-
for at least 20 years. But more
importantly, Pavlich maintains
that the project will remain student oriented.
“It is completely and utterly
there to enhance the student
experience. Without that I’m
not even interested in [the project],” he said. “We want it to be
centre of student life outside the
classroom.”
However, Jeff Friedrich, Alma
Mater Society president and BoG
representative, is unsure how
appealing the end result of the
project will be.
“It will be interesting to see
how different it looks from
the original [design] students
voted for,” he said. “I don’t see
how they’re going to liven up
the space…There’s not a lot of
green space.”
“I’m not going to support
the project in the current drawings that I’ve seen right now. It
doesn’t seem like it has a clear
vision behind it.”
He is also not as optimistic
about construction starting on
time.
“I’m surprised that they’re
holding to this line that they’re
somehow going to board in
May because I haven’t seen
anything... that demonstrates
what the project is going to look
like,” he said.
Although he does support the
idea of the project as well as the
idea of the bus loop, Friedrich
does not share the same sense
of urgency as UBC for an underground bus loop.
“The bus loop is a $40 million project. I’m not sure why
they can’t get TransLink to pay
more for that.” He also mentioned that he’s not sure it’s the
best way to service the campus.
“I don’t buy that.” U
U
THE UBYSSEY
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
Vol.LXXXVIII Nº40
Editorial Board
coordinating editor Eric Szeto
coordinating@ubyssey.bc.ca
news editor Brandon Adams &
Colleen Tang
news@ubyssey.bc.ca
culture editor Jesse Ferreras
culture@ubyssey.bc.ca
sports editor Boris Korby
sports@ubyssey.bc.ca
features/national editor
Momoko Price
features@ubyssey.bc.ca
photo editor Oker Chen
photos@ubyssey.bc.ca
production manager
Champagne Choquer
production@ubyssey.bc.ca
copy editor Levi Barnett
copy@ubyssey.bc.ca
Coordinators
volunteers Paul Bucci
volunteers@ubyssey.bc.ca
research/letters
Andrew MacRae
feedback@ubyssey.bc.ca
webmaster Matthew Jewkes
webmaster@ubyssey.bc.ca
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THE UBYSSEY Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
National
Opening the gates for HIV research
Microsoft tycoon stresses the importance of universities for prospering businesses
Brand-new
discoveries in
life aquatic
New fish species found near
deepsea volcanoes
by Robyn Luff
The Martlet (University of Victoria)
VICTORIA (CUP)—When you hear
that someone has discovered a
remarkable new species, a small,
mottled flatfish is not usually the
first thing that comes to mind.
big pockets: Gates donates for HIV research and encourages businesses to invest in universities. JASON CHIU/THE FULCRUM PHOTO
by Nadya Bell
CUP Ottawa Bureau Chief
OTTAWA (CUP)—Bill Gates, medium height, rumpled hair, dressed
in a purple shirt and a blue and
purple iridescent striped tie, came
to Ottawa on February 20 looking
a bit like a rock star.
In front of a 600-strong audience enjoying a catered lunch,
Gates spoke from a stage lit with
red and blue lights, with a 20-foot
video image of him mirroring every gesture.
He was giving the keynote address at the yearly Microsoft economic prosperity conference for
some of Canada’s top business
leaders. In the course of prophesying about the wide use of robots
and voice recognition software,
Gates said that education and uni-
versities are the key to innovation
and financial success.
“The business community
needs to get involved in education,” he said, “whether we think
about their skill sets or their needs
for some types of workers, somehow they can partner up and encourage those activities.”
Gates said that two of the most
dynamic industries—biotech and
software—tend to have most of
their small innovative companies
coming out of strong research universities, not the largest cities.
Businesses should recognise
the importance of education and
put more money into schools and
universities, Gates said.
Professors in the United States
own the intellectual rights to their
discoveries, something Gates says
gives them an added incentive to
work on research that has applications in the private sector.
But Gates did not completely
rule out the government’s role
in universities, saying that pure
mathematical research in particular still needs public funding.
“Every year that we
gain in the discovery of
this product is literally
millions of lives saved”
Bill Gates,
Chairman of
Microsoft Corporation
“Very substantial government
funding is key in those areas,” he
said. “So it’s government plus em-
bracing both small and large businesses, it’s getting that mix right—
and there’s no place that it works
without the government stepping
up to do a substantial part.”
Earlier in the day, Gates met
with Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to announce millions of
dollars for research into a vaccine
for HIV.
The Canadian government
committed $111 million and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
put $28 million into the project to
discover a vaccine for HIV through
research. The project is one of several medical initiatives—malaria
research is another—the foundation is supporting.
“Every year that we gain in
the discovery of this product is
literally millions of lives saved,”
Gates said. U
McGill students now considering IRV system
New undergraduate voting system may go to referendum
by Nicholas Smith
The McGill Daily (McGill University)
MONTREAL (CUP)—No voting
system is perfect, but Ross Margulies has a vision for an election
system he thinks can get a little
closer.
Margulies, a student at McGill
University and an executive in
the Arts Undergraduate Society,
is collecting signatures for a referendum to change the Student
Society of McGill University’s
(SSMU) single-winner elections to
instant-runoff voting, also known
as IRV.
“What we have is not democratic,” Margulies said, with regards
to the school’s current electoral
process.
The SSMU constitution currently states that winners are elected
by a plurality of votes, meaning
the person with the most number
of votes wins, even if that candidate received fewer than half of
the votes. Margulies has proposed
changing the current system,
also know as “first-past-the-post”
(FPTP), to IRV, in which a majority
of votes—more than half—would
be required to win.
In IRV, voters rank candidates.
If no candidate receives more than
half the votes, the candidate with
the fewest votes is eliminated and
their votes are redistributed to the
others according to the next-highest preference of each voter. This
process continues until someone
gets a majority.
Margulies said that in the last
five years, seven SSMU executives
were elected without support from
the majority of voters, so he talked
to other students to figure out what
the best solution was.
“We had a debate. There was
a large group of people,” he said.
“We looked into results for [other
systems] and IRV,” as well as the
current FPTP system, and IRV was
the winner.
SSMU wouldn’t be the first
student union to consider IRV.
According to FairVote, an organisation that supports changing cur-
rent all-or-nothing voting systems
in the U.S. to more proportional
ones, many student unions are
turning to IRV.
The group points to universities, such as Harvard, Princeton,
MIT, and the University of California at Berkeley, who have adopted
the model. Margulies interned at
FairVote last summer.
“They were very successful,”
said Jack Santucci, a research fellow at FairVote and a McGill political science graduate. “They have a
very low error rate.”
IRV is also used in Ireland,
Australia, Malta, and some city
councils in the US. In Canada,
BC had a referendum in 2005 on
switching to single transferable
vote (STV), a similar system for
multi-winner elections, which got
57 per cent support but failed
due to the super-majority referendum requirement of 50 per
cent plus one in 60 per cent of all
constituencies.
PEI held a similar referendum
while Ontario and Quebec have es-
tablished commissions to look at
new voting systems.
“This is a system well-tested in
American politics,” Santucci said.
“Internationally, it’s been used for
over a century.”
According to the chief returning officer of Elections McGill, Bryan Badali, IRV would not be very
difficult to implement—a modification to the software used to run
the elections is all that would be
needed.
Although
the
referendum
would mandate the change for the
spring 2008 election period, Margulies thought it could be done
more quickly.
“If all things go well, this will be
running in fall 2007,” he said.
However, he stressed that what
matters most is that students are
engaged in the process.
“It’s good for citizens to be
engaged, to be learning, to be excited,” Margulies said. “It’s important for voters to know how the
system works and why we’re doing it.” U
That, however, is exactly what
University of Victoria deep-sea researchers John Dower and Verena
Tunnicliffe found swimming at the
bottom of the ocean near underwater volcanoes in the Marianas Arc,
northeast of the Philippines. Both
Dower and Tunnicliffe work in the
UVic biology and earth and ocean
sciences departments.
The new species of tonguefish
(so named because it looks like a
human tongue) is unique in that
it is the only species of fish ever
found to be associated with active
deep-sea volcanoes. This small,
mottled, red-and-purple fish lives
in an environment where volcanic
gases and heat leak into the ocean.
The water there is almost boiling
and full of toxic chemicals.
Typically, only certain species
have adapted to living in such a
harsh environment—mainly things
like snails and worms—so when
Dower and Tunnicliffe saw such
a high density of fish living right
on the edge of these molten pools,
they were impressed. They didn’t
even know what they were looking
at at first.
“I thought, ‘What are those
things?’” Tunnicliffe said. “After
20 years of looking at the sea floor,
you have certain preconceived notions. It’s always so wonderful to
see new things.”
The fish are actually at their
highest densities—nearly 100 per
square metre—right near the edge
of molten sulphur pools that occur
at the bottom of these volcanoes.
They have even been observed
swimming onto the sulphur pool
and sitting there momentarily before swimming away completely
unharmed.“We really have no idea
what they’re doing there,” Tunnicliffe said.
There was some initial speculation that the tonguefish were living
off of bacterial filaments and small
worms found on the sea floor, until they noticed that occasionally,
larger mid-water fish that died
would sink down to the bottom of
the sea floor, where the tonguefish
would eat them. The tonguefish
have only been found on “highsulphur” volcanoes or volcanoes
that release dense sulphur plumes
into the water column. The plumes
could be killing these mid-water
fish, which then become food for
the tonguefish.
How do these fish survive such
high temperatures without getting
cooked? Why do they show such
a strong affinity for being in such
highly sulphuric areas? These questions are going to prove difficult to
answer, according to the UVic scientists, but it’s all the more exciting because these fish really are
living in a totally new way.
“Maybe they don’t have to be
doing anything—maybe sitting
on the sulphur just feels good,”
mused Tunnicliffe.
The tonguefish is currently
undergoing classification at the
Smithsonian, where scientists
hope some additional clues to its
biology will crop up. U
Culture
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
Dodo doesn’t do it
BRINGING BACK THE DODO: LESSONS
IN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL
HISTORY
by Wayne Grady
McClelland and Stewart
by Matthew Jewkes
Culture Staff
Write for Rant!
webmaster@ubyssey.bc.ca
Concepts in the natural and biological sciences, such as evolution,
adaptation, and domestication,
are considered in reference to
creatures “out there” in “nature.”
The only times in which ideas like
evolution are even associated with
humans seem to be when religious
groups get in conflict with school
boards. But even in those cases,
neither the implications nor the
questions raised by the idea of humans as natural creatures subject
to the same rules as other living organisms are truly considered.
Science author Wayne Grady
attempts to do just this in his collection of essays entitled Bringing
Back the Dodo: Lessons in Natural
and Unnatural History. He looks
at human evolutionary origins,
asking questions such as “why did
(or, more specifically, what was the
adaptive advantage in) humans
begin to walk upright?” as well as
exploring the relationship between
our species’ loss of night vision
and our apprehension of night.
The information and hypotheses
presented in this regard lend to
a truly fresh and insightful look
as to why we act the way we do as
human animals.
As an amateur anthropologistin-training, I was troubled that
Grady presented a number of traits
as being inherently human that
are, instead, unique to cultures
that practice agricultural forms of
subsistence—such as our own. He
spends an entire section describing how, because humans evolved
on grasslands and savannahs, we
are naturally inclined to transform
any landscapes we find into such
spaces. Certainly the descriptions
he employs of colonial Europeans
arriving in North America supports this claim.
If all cultures were similar to
the Europeans, his insights would
be valid. However, he neglects to
mention that there were humans
living in North America for tens
of thousands of years prior who
found many uses for forests as forests, without transforming them
into grassland. Clearly the Europeans who arrived in North America
transformed forests to grasslands
as quickly as they could. This is a
consistent theme throughout. His
analyses are always deft. However,
because he does not consider other,
often radically different cultures, I
am highly skeptical about Grady’s
claims and descriptions of human
nature, and somewhat fearful of
them for their ethnocentrism.
Furthermore, while he describes the agricultural human
relationship to “nature” in great
detail, Grady never quite figures
out what constitutes “natural”
and what “unnatural”. While the
premise of many of his ideas is
that humans are not separate from
the natural word, he is unable to
maintain this idea throughout, and
often falls back to referring to “nature” as being “out there.” If beaver
dams are a part of nature, are human mud huts natural? What about
a wooden house or a skyscraper? I
would have liked him to pay a bit
more attention to this very central
element in his work.
On the other hand, Grady makes
some brilliant and seemingly
original points when he looks at
humans as a domestic animal. At
one point I literally stopped reading in order to transcribe a quote
about domesticity as a form of prolonged adolescence, before sending it to all of my anthropologist
friends. His style frames almost
all of his essays in a personal
narrative. Never is information
presented too quickly or without
context.
Bringing Back the Dodo tackles
some very important ideas with
clarity and interest. Personally, I
am simply happy to see a popular
science book tackling this subject
matter at all. I am always interested in learning more about what
it means to be a human being,
and Bringing Back the Dodo has
several new ideas to present in
this regard. However, many of the
ideas presented are dangerous if
taken at face value or if not examined critically with at least a small
amount of prior knowledge. U
THE UBYSSEY Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
Culture
Unpredictable Foxx hunts for laughs
JAMIE FOXX - UNPREDICTABLE
at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre
February 24
by David Harakal
Culture Writer
I want to walk alone
This year’s Clothesline Project was displayed in the main concourse of
the Student Union Building yesterday to kick start Anti-Violence Week.
Organised by the Sexual Assault Support Club, the T-shirts were decorated
voluntarily to express how violence in general impacts students and
society. Kellan Higgins photo
Jamie Foxx took the stage at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre last Saturday to promote his
new solo album Unpredictable with an exciting variety show that brought together his
many talents as an accomplished comedian,
singer and Oscar winning actor.
Stand-up comic Speedy opened the show
with what appeared to be a fairly improvised set that involved a lot of audience interaction, teasing anyone who came in late
because they were “holding up the show.”
He almost went too far when he made fun of
a very large man who came in with several
young ladies but held his tongue when the
man took off his shirt to reveal muscles the
likes of which Mr T could only dream.
The audience was ready for the main
act at this point and Foxx did not disappoint
as he ran onto the stage in a red leather
jacket and dark jeans shouting out “what’s
up 604?!” The entire crowd jumped to their
feet and cheered him on for almost his entire opening set of stand-up comedy. Foxx
had us all cornered and nailed almost every
joke he threw down, covering everything
from OJ Simpson’s new book to Britney
Spears’ misguided hairstyles, and Michael
Richards’ racist rant, which had audience
members falling out of their chairs when he
picked up the mic stand, wielded it like a
spear and said that if he had been in the audience that night, his “jungle drums would
start bangin’,” as he jumped around the
stage like a madman.
The second act had Foxx change into
an all white suit that looked like something
out of a Luther Vandross video, crooning
R&B and all the latest tracks off his new CD,
while scantily-clad women paraded around
the stage, pole dancing or grinding on a red
velvet sofa. All of the songs on his new CD
are slow burners that didn’t seem to translate too well to a live show, but Jamie was
jumping with all his energy on stage, along
with four backing vocalists and band members who almost all had their moment to
shine. The music left the crowd with hearts
beating and ears ringing.
The finale came when Foxx appeared
on stage dressed as Ray Charles and played
classic songs in character as clips from the
movie Ray flashed on a giant backdrop. This
persona didn’t last long, however, when
Foxx suddenly improvised a song about
the audience being “the best crowd ever”
and taunted each section with the promise
of giving away $5000 before a shower of
fake money fell from the rafters, as he sang
his hit single Unpredictable to a cheering
crowd.
Foxx delivered an incredible show, but
he seemed most comfortable doing comedy and couldn’t perform a single song
without sneaking in some kind of humour.
His charisma and on-stage confidence added
to his overall performance but left his music sounding shallow, providing the audience with a fun night out but one they might
still forget the morning after. While Foxx
is a very talented performer, he still felt
the need to remind the audience of his
success at one point in an awkward montage of images that spanned his entire
career, from his early days of doing standup comedy, through television, music and
then film. He even shouted out that he’s
“an Oscar winner but [he’s] still ghetto,” as
though justifying his various means of artistic expression. Despite his best efforts, I
still got the feeling that he was spreading
his talent a bit thin and in that red leather
jacket I couldn’t help thinking he looked like
a “Foxx” chasing his tail. U
Write for The Ubyssey’s
Colour’s issue!
Meeting today at 2:30
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Sports
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
T-Birds top Clan in two
Haggarty the difference as best in the country go down
to the buzzer, again
by Boris Korby
Sports Editor
Four points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Zero for 2 from behind the arc.
One rebound. Not exactly numbers worthy of being selected the
game’s first star. But some nights
it’s not about the stat line, and
Saturday night was one of those
nights for Cait Haggarty.
With SFU seeking revenge
after dropping the first game
of the best-of-three series 73-67
the night before, the fourth-year
guard from Victoria was the difference in a test that saw the two
best teams in the country go down
to the wire for the fourth time this
season.
Haggarty was instrumental in
staking UBC out to an early lead
in the second quarter, dishing
out highlight reel assists and
helping limit SFU to just 21 first
half points with a strong defensive
effort that included a game-high
of four steals. Then with the clock
ticking down and UBC up three
in the fourth, she hit a driving
lay-up with 15 seconds to go to
seal the win.
“Cait’s our quarterback,” said
UBC head coach Deb Huband.
“She’s a bit of an unsung hero,
she flies under the radar a little
bit but when you look at her numbers at the end of the game she always has a hefty number of steals
and assists, and she makes key
plays like the one tonight in the
last minute.”
UBC led by as many as 13 in
the first half, but an 18-4 run by
the Clan that bridged the second
and third quarters would put SFU
up by four halfway through the
third frame.
With star forward Kelsey Blair
(1 for 7, 5 points) being held
in check for a second straight
game, fourth-year guard Erica McGuinness stepped up big for UBC
in the second half, scoring 12 of
her game high 20 points—including a huge three-pointer with the
score tied 52-52 with less than two
minutes to play.
STAYING HOME: Megan Pinske and the T-Birds are now getting
set to host the Canada West final four. Kellan Higgins Photo
“They’re a great team so you
know they’re not going to quit,
you kind of expect that,” said
Haggarty. “Luckily we were able to
hold them off and Erica [McGuinness] hit some huge shots and
we got some stops defensively
so we were able to weather the
storm, but we knew it was coming
because they are such a competitive team.”
The two rival teams will
have a chance to face off again
next weekend as the Canada
West Final Four kicks off at
War Memorial Gym. UBC (Pacific
Division champions) will meet
Winnipeg (Great Plains Division
champions) in the first semifinal, while SFU (wild-card berth)
will face Alberta (Central Division
champions) in the other matchup. The top three teams will
qualify for the CIS championships,
set to go March 9-11 in St. John’s,
Newfoundland. u
Canada West women’s basketball playoffs
ALBERTA (1)
UBC (1)
ALBERTA
UBC
BYE
UCFV (4)
UBC
ALBERTA
CALGARY (2)
SFU (2)
SASK
SFU
SASK (3)
UVIC (3)
WINNIPEG (1)
WINNIPEG
BYE
WINNIPEG
MANITOBA (2)
There’s still time, for those of you who want to
experience the life of a sports writer.
Email sports@ubyssey.bc.ca for more information.
MANITOBA
REGINA (3)
*SFU
*SFU received the
wild-card berth into the
Canada West Final
Four based on their
regular-season and
playoff record
THE UBYSSEY Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
Sports
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Thunderbirds look for lessons in tough series loss to Alberta
by Trevor Phillips
The Gateway (University of Alberta)
Edmonton—For the Alberta Pandas hockey squad, this weekend’s
Canada West semifinal was a stepping stone towards another conference crown. For the UBC Thunderbirds, it was a baby-step towards
respectability.
The much more talented, faster
and stronger Pandas bulldozed
over the younger T-Birds in twostraight games, 9–0 on Friday and
5–0 on Saturday to advance to their
sixth straight Canada West final. On
the other side of the rink, UBC, who
was making its first appearance in
the post-season since 2001, did as
much as possible to delay a motivated Alberta squad, leaving their
head coach, Dave Newson, proud
of their effort despite being held
off the scoresheet on the weekend.
“We look at this as a positive for
our young team and a chance to
gain some valuable playoff experience,” he said. “You might as well
get your feet wet against a team
like Alberta, who has been to six
straight National Championships.”
Most notable for the ‘Birds was
the play of goalie Melinda Choy,
who made 74 saves on 84 shots in
five periods of work over the two
games.
“She is a great goalie and she
is going to be a great goalie for
as long as she is in this league,”
Pandas head coach Howie Draper
remarked. “Our game plan was
to get a lot of rubber at the net
and battle hard for rebounds. Overall, I thought we did a pretty good
job of that.”
Despite the effort by Choy, the
Pandas juggernaut offence was just
too much for UBC to handle. In total, the Pandas directed 103 shots
on goal in the two games; 14 different players recorded a point—including Lindsay MacAlpine, who
lead all scores with five goals, and
Tarin Podloski, who picked up
seven assists—as Alberta finished
7–23 on the power play. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds managed
only 13 shots against Panda keeper
Holly Tarleton and racked up 46 total penalty minutes. Friday’s game
was particularly penalty ridden,
putting UBC at a large disadvantage and frustrating Newson.
“It was a disgrace,” Newson
said. “[Game one] looked like a preseason game out there. We had a
game plan for [the Pandas], and
it was out the window on the very
first shift; taking away the ability to
play five-on-five and establish any
kind of flow.”
In total there were 22 penalties called by head referee Ryan
Wass, who—according to Draper—
was being critiqued on the game,
which resulted in more power
plays.
“Well, the ref was being evaluated; with the [emphasis on the] new
rules, I think that’s what he was doing. In different [cities] there are
different standards of officiating.
Edmonton officials seem to follow
the rules to a tee. Unfortunately,
the reality is if the rules were more
consistent players could adjust accordingly,” Draper said.
Pandas assistant captain Tarin
Podloski agreed with her coach
and felt the quality of the games
would be better if the players could
adjust better to the rules.
“I’m used to [the tight officiating] having played with the under22 [National team] but it is frustrating when one referee calls a
Women’s issue March 9th. We need art and poem submissions!
Email women@ubyssey.bc.ca
GOAL! Alberta were the only ones to find the back of the net
over the weekend. Krystina Sulatyck/The Gateway Photo
ton of penalties one night, and the
next night another referee doesn’t
call any.” Podloski said. “The thing
is, in women’s hockey, they’re so
smart with the puck and skate so
well that, if players could adjust,
the game would be faster and more
fun to watch.”
In Saturday’s affair, veteran
official Ray Berezitzky was blowing the whistle, and the result was
fewer penalties, more flow and a
more exciting contest, though Alberta once again proved they were
the better team, winng 5-0 and
ending the UBC women’s hockey
team’s most successful season in
six years.
“[This weekend] was a good
stepping stone for us.” Draper
said. “I was quiet happy with our
execution and our energy but I still
think it could be better and will
have to be next weekend.” u
Sports
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
Men’s Basketball
T-Birds roll over hapless
Vikes in Game One rout
Where’s the foul? Chris Dyck reacts after an elbow to the
face over the weekend. Kellan Higgins photo
by Andrew Kim
Sports Writer
What was supposed to be a battle
between two national title contenders turned out to be more like
a basketball clinic Thursday night
at War Memorial Gym, as the TBirds led the way in almost every
statistical category on route to a
dominating 80-63 win in game
one of their Pacific Division Final
series against UVic.
And in a rare display Thursday night, it wasn’t UBC’s everdangerous long distance guards
doing most of the scoring. T-Bird
centre Bryson Kool led the way at
both ends of the floor, scoring 22
points while grabbing 12 rebounds
to pace UBC.
“We’re looking for more than
just a defeat of Victoria; we’re
looking [to take] the Canada West,”
said fifth-year guard Jason Birring.
“But I am definitely proud of the
way we came out and played.”
With Kool anchoring the defense, the Thunderbirds displayed
perhaps the best defensive effort
of the season in the victory, limiting the Vikes to 27 per cent from
Staff Meeting Agenda
1) Intros
2) Stuff
3) Mo’ stuff
4) Po-mo
5) Lunch time!
6) Naptime!
the floor in the first half, effectively ending the contest before it was
20 minutes old.
UBC’s energetic man-to-man
defence forced several key turnovers in the opening half, which
they were able to take advantage
of as they doubled up on the Vikes
46-23 by the halfway point.
“I thought defensively we
did some really good things and
Bryson Kool was dynamite for
us,” said UBC head coach Kevin
Hanson. “He had a great all-round
game. He played great defence and
he rebounded really well. He can
be a load if he gets going and plays
aggressive and I thought without a
doubt tonight was his best game as
a Thunderbird.”
Star fifth-year guard Casey Archibald led UBC’s back-court with
17 points on seven of 17 shooting,
while Chris Dyck benefited from
UBC’s trademark high-post pickand-roll play to chip in 13.
“We want everyone to contribute,” said Birring, who chipped
in with eight points off the bench.
“It’s great to have everyone involved and we just love everyone
playing well.” u
Sports
THE UBYSSEY Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
MEN’S BASKETBALL
T-Birds send UVic packing with series sweep
by Eric Szeto
Sports Staff
Some players make painstaking
efforts to perfect their jumpshot,
staying on the court long after the
rest of the team has hit the showers. Others shoot free throws militantly—hundreds every day—to
hone their fundamentals. Chris
Dyck plays horse.
“The guys were bugging me
because we play horse all the time
and I always take shots [from
half court] and they were making
fun of me and now it pays off,”
said Dyck, third-year UBC guard
after game two of the T-Birds series clinching win against the
UVic Vikings Friday night at War
Memorial.
What Dyck was referring to was
his horse-inspired three pointer
from midcourt in the first half
of UBC’s 88-82 win against UVic.
After recovering a Victoria tip that
sent him back into his own half
to chase down the ball, and with
the crowd counting down the shot
clock, Dyck ran back across midcourt to nail an incredible three
pointer that resembled a half-court
shot, putting the Birds up 41-30
with minutes left in the high-tempo
half.
In fact, the whole contest must
have felt like a game of horse
to him; he was nailing so many
shots he could have scored while
on the bench.
“It was a fun half to play, we
got a little lucky on that long
ball,” Dyck said of his 19 first half
points—12 of which came from beyond the arc.
But while UBC came out blazing, they weren’t able to put the
game away. Even with UBC holding a comfortable lead going into
halftime, the feeling at War Memorial was that the Vikes wouldn’t go
down quietly.
Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, Dyck managed to get two
quick fouls and was on the bench
for almost the entire second half.
Then to make matters worse,
Canada West Basketball Playoffs
BRANDON (1)
UBC (1)
BRANDON
UBC
BYE
TWU (4)
UBC
BRANDON
UBC’s untimely offensive fouls and
sloppy offensive execution helped
the surging Vikes to within a point
of taking the lead.
The T-Birds, like the UBC Dance
Team looked wobbly at times,
stumbling and watching as UVic
chipped away at their lead.
But then something happened.
Maybe it was the chants of “overrated” from the UVic faithful in
attendance while Archibald took
free-throws, or the fact that the
experienced Birds have faced this
type of adversity before, but UBC
managed to find that spark to stay
afloat, answering every UVic surge
with a solid defensive play or a
timely basket.
“It basically came down to who
made plays at the end of the game,
who got loose balls and we did
that and that’s why we won,” said
Archibald, who also finished with
eight assists, none nicer than an alley-oop pass to an airborne Dyck in
the first half.
It also took a well balanced
attack in the end as three T-
REGINA (2)
UVIC (2)
REGINA
UVIC
WINNIPEG(3)
SFU (3)
ALBERTA (1)
ALBERTA
BYE
SASK
SASK (2)
SASK
CALGARY (3)
UVIC*
*Uvic received the wild-card berth
into the Canada West Final Four
based on their regular season and
playoff record
Kellan Higgins Photo
Birds finished in double digits.
Archibald finished with a game
high 24 points, fifth-year guard
Jason Birring with 19 and thirdyear forward Bryson Kool, whose
solid double-double performance
carried over from game one, finished with seven points and eight
rebounds.
“That’s what we need. That’s
what championship teams are
all about,” said Archibald. “Different guys step up at different
games. It’s matter of people getting...confidence.”
Despite the near meltdown,
UBC cemented their second
straight Pacific Division Title, and
now go on to face the University of
Sasketchewan next weekend at the
Canada West final four.
Coach Kevin Hanson never had
any fear.
“You work on those game
situations and we had a lot of
close games this year,” said
Hanson of the near second half
collapse. “You just have to have the
faith.” u
10
Editorial
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
Letter/Perspective
Unions took necessary action
by Emily Shelton
Lofty Political Debate
“Won’t you be my neighbour?”
Who wants a convicted rapist in their neighborhood? Not you? Well too bad, ‘cause he’s
got rights, too. Well, except for mobility
rights. Apparently in Paul Callow’s case,
those aren’t as important.
Callow, notoriously known as the
‘Balcony Rapist’ for his preferred mode of
entry into the buildings of his victims, has
chosen to come home to roost—in Newton, a
neighbourhood in Surrey after serving time
for the past 20 years. And while members
of the Surrey community protested passionately against it last weekend, residents of
Ontario will sleep easy knowing that Callow
has been banned from their province. BC
residents, however, aren’t so lucky.
The unusual and apparently unavoidable
legal circumstances of Callow’s freedom
leaves us all with an uneasy feeling in our
stomachs and a bad taste in our mouths.
Serial rape has a tendency to make people
feel like that.
Our judicial system has always subscribed, as much as possible, to the standard of, “you do the crime, you do the time.”
Once a prisoner’s served their sentence,
their rights should be reinstated and, ideally, protected. Our courts, at least at first
glance, are doing their best to fulfill this
obligation for Callow, in spite of the civilian
protest in Surrey, the dismay of police and
politicians alike, and the furor of dissent
that has spawned over the Internet about
his release. Canadian court officials seem
to be doing their best to uphold the law,
even if it means pissing off an abundance of
people in the process.
The question remains, however: Are
angry BC residents just easier to deal with
than Ontario residents? What exactly is Callow doing here? It’s true that he has to live
somewhere, but no one is making it very
clear how Ontario managed to legally kick
Callow to the curb, while BC is obligated to
be his halfway house.
Much of the fear BC residents are feeling
comes from knowing that Callow is highly
likely to re-offend and there’s not much we
can do about it. A repeated sex offender
who was denied parole eight times does
not garner much confidence from other
members of society. But much of the anger
they’re feeling comes from the legal loopholes surrounding Callow’s case which have
left them feeling as though their concerns
are second-class to the concerns of other
Canadian citizens.
“We are not the dumping ground for
criminals from the rest of Canada,” NDP
MLA Harry Bains declared to The Province
this past weekend. He questioned, “Why is
[Callow] in our neighborhood?” No one’s
answered that question yet.
According to the Canadian Charter of
streeters
Rights and Freedoms, the mobility rights
of all Canadian citizens, including released
convicts, allow them to take up residence
anywhere they want in the country. Why
else was Karla Homolka allowed to take up
residence in Montreal? Or James Samuel
Waller to attempt to take up residence in
Steveston?
Who ever heard of a province banning
a citizen, even a terrible one, from its
grounds? What does this imply about the
protection of other communities in Canada?
People’s protection in Ontario takes precedence over those in BC? No wonder people
are upset.
Callow was an offender who did not
prey on people he knew, so the possibility that perhaps he’d been displaced as a
means to protect likely victims doesn’t hold
much weight.
None of us, on either the West or East
Coast, ‘enjoys’ having to bear the heavy
burden of fear and uncertainty that comes
with reintegrating high-risk offenders into
society. But when nothing just can be done
about it, no one community should be prioritised over another. It’s a gamble no one
wants to be a part of, but one no one has a
right to pull out of either.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Callow.
You’re new here, so just to warn you, the
natives don’t look too friendly. u
Do you think sex offenders can be rehabilitated?
I take issue with your editorial, “Drawing
a Line in the Sand,” [Feb. 13] and its characterisation of the actions of members of
the student unions in Toronto.
On February 5, members of the York
and U of T students’ unions attended what
was billed as a public announcement by
Minister Chris Bentley who was allegedly
going to announce a strategy to make post
secondary education more accessible
to students. However, it was difficult for
members of the student union to imagine
how Bentley would make education more
accessible considering he is planning to
hike tuition fees by up to 36 per cent in
the next four years. True to their role of
advocacy on behalf of students, the people from the York Federation of Students
(YFS) and the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) planned to ask Bentley some tough question about his policies
and strategies.
Upon arrival, the members of the students’ unions were told that they would
need to sign in as press in order to stay
at the public announcement. People who
did not sign in as press were threatened
with charges of trespassing. The move
to sign in as campus media was a defensive, knee-jerk reaction to a heavy handed
threat made by the aides of Chris Bentley. It became clear that this “public announcement” was not public at all, but
rather a media stunt on the behalf of the
McGuinty Liberals to attempt to get some
good press in the fact of the looming Day
of Action to reduce tuition fees scheduled
only two short days after.
The members of the students’ unions
did not attempt to assume the identity of
any reporters from the campus papers.
They did not ask questions from the floor
under the guise as being from a student
newspaper. They simply claimed to be
from a campus paper so that they would
not be kicked out of a public announcement, so that they could continue to advocate on the behalf of students in Ontario.
The editorial’s attack on a fellow campus newspaper for reacting rationally to
the situation was very unfair. The Varsity
is a highly acclaimed campus newspaper
which regularly critiques the actions of
the UTSU.
The real “scandal” here is the fact that
Minister Chris Bentley has attempted to
manipulate the media in order to mask
his regressive policies of constant tuition
fee hikes. Over the past 15 years, tuition
fees in Ontario have increased four times
faster than inflation, while per student
investment has dropped to amongst the
lowest in North America. Today Ontario
students pay amongst the highest fees
while our schools have the worst professor-student ratios in the country.
With an election just around the corner, this “public announcement” and the
shameful efforts of Chris Bentley’s aides
to peddle a non-existent “scoop” to campus newspapers clearly demonstrates that
the McGuinty Liberals are threatened by
the strength of the student movement.
—Emily Shelton is Vice-President
External of the UTSU
It happens all the time
—Glenn Finlay
Engineering, 1
“Depends on the sex
offender.”
—Carllin
Science, 4
“Society doesn’t
believe that sex
offenders can be
rehabilitated.”
—Tanner Welsh
Arts, 2
“I think it’s too serious
of a psychological issue to determine with
one rehabilitation
session.”
—Erica Baird
Political Science, 4
“Oh God. I think after
a certain amount of
time.”
—Ileana Costrut
English Literature, 4
“Part of me wants
to believe yes, and I
think that everyone
should be given the
chance to, but it
depends on each person and each case.”
So some people posed as student journalists in order to gain access to a closed
door government media stunt that should
have been open to the public in the first
place. What’s the big deal here? On my
campus at least, government apologists
and right-wing ideologues have been calling themselves student journalists for
years. Drop by any campus newspaper office and you’ll see what I mean.
—Rebecca Rose is a third-year Journalism
student at Ryerson University
[Editors note: Rebecca Rose was the 20052006 Ryerson student union President]
— Coordinated by Allison Bailey and Oker Chen
THE UBYSSEY Tuesday, 27 February, 2007
Letter and Perspective
Checking the balances of the deficit
by Tim Louman-Gardiner
Your article of February 12 (“UBC to
balance $36 million deficit”) gives
UBC full credit for its attempts to
balance the budget shortfall. Prof.
Toope deserves full credit for the
transparency and disclosure with
which he and the administration
have approached the problem; it’s
not an easy situation and I imagine it can’t be an easy decision for
anyone.
That having been said, the article failed to identify the ways
in which students will be directly
bearing the costs of the shortfall.
The increased fees paid by ancillary operations like Housing and
the Bookstore will result in costs being passed directly on to students,
to the tune of $1.2 million per
year. Allocation away from funding PhD students will hurt grad
students across the board. The
University will stop allowing credit
card tuition payments, which carries debt implications; they’re also
exploring the option of making students pay fees for the transactions.
These are all costs, which will be
paid directly by students.
But that’s not the most galling
example. Remember last year,
when the net spending on needbased financial aid went down
because of the increased burden
being placed on loans? And the
Ubyssey asked where the money
went? Well, now we know. It went
to a reserve, from which the University has proposed a one-year $2
million cut. This won’t take money away from students, per se, but
consider the logic. That reserve
only exists because students are
taking on increased loans, so the
University has to spend less money on need-based aid (thanks to
the internal logic of Policy 72). In
short, the University is essentially
using the increased provincial
loan limits to pay off their deficit.
The money was once ear-marked
for student need-based aid, but
was considered unnecessary because of loans, so now it’s going to
the deficit.
It’s also worth considering why
we’re in a deficit. Sure, much of
it relates to structural government
underfunding. But we’re a University bound by a million-dollar severance package to its former President, with faculty salary increases
(not funded by the provincial government) that far outpace inflation
and those of the other staff, which
still pays sessional lecturers near
minimum wage. Prof. Toope and
the senior administration deserve
credit for their efforts to manage
it, but students ought to know the
costs they’ll end up bearing as a
result.
­—Tim Louman-Gardiner is a
third-year law student
Arar’s cash should go elsewhere
We neither want nor can we afford
the tax payers’ payment of $10.5
million to one Mahar Arar. Tax
payers’ hard earned money is for
community use, not a jackpot for
one individual. We’re not talking
Bingo here. The money is needed
for free Medicare for Canadianborn children. It’s needed for replacing military equipment for the
brave soldiers who put their lives
on the line for us daily, for all our
soldiers who have a special place
in our hearts.
No one held a gun to Arar’s
head (that we know of) to travel
extensively while unemployed in
the turbulent Middle East. This is
proof that dual citizenship doesn’t
work because some are using
Canada as a battleground for their
political hang-ups back home. It
has become a racket that must be
stopped but won’t be as long as
Canada has a reputation of being
“the world’s welfare office.”
Canada will never come together as a nation because of this. If
Arar loved Canada as he claimed,
why isn’t he in the Canadian army?
I telephoned Prime Minister Harper to voice my total disapproval of
the entire Arar bonanza­—he got an
earful. This system is structurally
unworkable and flawed. It’s high
time to replace it.
­— Mary Prinz lives in Vancouver
Pissed off? Write in to the Ubyssey
feedback@ubyssey.bc.ca
11
12
Sports
Tuesday, 27 February, 2007 THE UBYSSEY
Swimming
Pride OF THE UNIVERSITY
T-Birds make it a
record ten in a row
by Eric Szeto
Sports Editor
Sports Staff
THUNDERFISH: UBC completes a decade of dominance. PHOTOS COURTESY OF DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
with nationals,” said Schoof, “but
what else can I do?”
Even with the demanding
schedule and ever-growing ex-
pectations, however, number
ten was still something special
for this year’s squad, especially
with the expectations and pre-
ssure they took to Halifax with
them.
“What can I say? It feels
fantastic,” said Schoof. u
Men’s Volleyball
Making a killing on the courts
by Brandon Adams
Sports Staff
UBC is heading to the CIS volleyball
championships for the first time
in 18 years, and despite a poor
showing against the No. 1 Trinity
Western Spartans in the Canada
West gold medal game over the
weekend, head coach Richard
Schick is proud of the team’s accomplishments and confident in
their chances on the big stage.
Four years ago coach Schick
moved from the University of
Alberta’s successful Golden Bears
men’s volleyball team to UBC’s underachieving Thunderbird team.
“I wanted to win right off the bat
in my first year, and it was tough,”
said Schick, “It was tough for the
players, it was tough for me.”
The transition from the storied
Golden Bears program to the perennially poor Thunderbirds was
hard, explained Schick. “I came
from programs that had high expectations: your goals weren’t just
to just make the playoffs...it was
just expected, ‘You’re going to nationals and you’re competing for
gold.’ The mentality of that maybe
A new
frontier
UBC wins first playoff
series in 36 years
by Boris Korby
First-year UBC head coach Derrick
Schoof was confident heading into
the CIS nationals in Halifax, and
had a good idea about how things
would turn out after the first day’s
events. But even when the titles
were assured, he still couldn’t
settle his nerves.
“I didn’t really relax until
the final race was over,” said a
visibly satisfied Schoof, who
led the Thunderbirds to an unprecedented tenth consecutive
men’s and women’s swimming
championship.
UBC’s men’s squad had their
best ever performance at the CIS
championships over the weekend, winning 17 of 19 events with
787.5 points, far clear of runnerup Calgary’s 613.5.
Fifth-year Brian Johns was
named CIS swimmer of the year
for a record third time, while fifthyear captain Darryl Rudolf won
gold in six of his seven events.
Rudolf also picked up a silver in
the 100m freestyle after missing his first turn and having to
come back from eighth place with
75m to go.
On the women’s side, the TBirds collected 746 points, nearly
100 clear of Calgary’s 647.
Fifth-year women’s captain
Michelle Landry paced the squad
with four gold and two bronze
medals to cap off an accomplished
CIS career.
“Our senior swimmers really
led the way,” said Schoof.
But after enjoying their amazing achievement on Monday, it’s
back in the water today for most of
these champions, many of whom
are preparing for the Pan American trials in three weeks.
“I celebrated for a day, and now
it’s back to work. “It’s difficult to
prepare after being on such a high
Men’s Hockey
GOING UP FOR THE KILL: UBC was in tough against TWU. KIM SMITH/THE GATEWAY PHOTO
wasn’t here before.”
Despite the team’s lacklustre
performance early in his career
at UBC, Schick said his early
experience was positive, “Those
guys in those first years—they
wanted to learn and they worked
their butts off.”
Yet after four years of gradual
progression and growth Schick
and his team are ready to compete
on a national level.
“This year we kinda got over the
biggest hurdle,” said Schick. “That
was facing a team that we’d lost to
in the playoffs the previous three
years [Manitoba] and being able to
have our goal in sight.”
And despite a hard loss to
Trinity Western University Schick
says his team is ready for the
CIS nationals. “We believe we’re
one of the top teams in the country and we believe that if we
play our game, we’re going to be
tough to beat. But we have to play
our game.” u
A philosophical quandary: when
were more expletives uttered over
the weekend? When an infuriated
UBC hockey coach Milan Dragicevic found out the referees called off
a game-tying goal with 1.2 seconds
left in game two of their best-ofthree series with Lethbridge, or
when his team came back the next
night and clinched their first playoff series in 36 years?
While there may never be any
answer for this, one thing that is for
certain is that UBC will be advancing to play the two-time defending
CIS national champion University
of Alberta Golden Bears next weekend after defeating Lethbridge 5-3
Sunday afternoon. A T-Birds win
means a trip to the Canada West
finals with a berth in the CIS championships on the line.
“If you haven’t won a series in
36 years, then anytime you win a
series it’s gotta be a big deal,” an
animated Dragicevic said. “The
program has come a long way over
the past few years and last year we
were three seconds away from advancing and we didn’t.”
“This year we learned from our
mistakes, so this is a big deal. I told
the players that this is a big deal
for the next 24 hours, but [then]
we’re worried about Alberta.”
Dragicevic’s comments were
a far cry from the Saturday night
fiasco, where a linesman called
off a goal with 1.2 seconds left in
the game. It was a goal that would
have tied the game 4-4, and would
have given UBC a chance to sweep
their opponents. During his postgame comments, he went as far as
accusing the referees of conspiring against his team.
“It was blatant cheating, it was
a disgrace to the game what this
linesman did to us,” he said.
“[There was a] big scramble in
front of the net. We scored. We got
the puck in…There was at least seven guys in the goal crease. The referee was standing right there. He’s
calling it in, we’re celebrating. The
linesman all of a sudden goes to
the referee and calls it off.”
“It was a blatant disrespect for
the game,” he continued.
Sunday afternoon, the T-Birds
took an early 3-0 lead and looked to
have the game in the bag. But two
quick goals by Lethbridge threw a
wrench into UBC’s plans.
But a balanced attack—
five different T-Birds got on the
scoresheet—helped
stave
off
any temptation of a Lethbridge
comeback.
Now things don’t get easier for
UBC as they head off to Alberta to
take on the two-time defending CIS
national champion Golden Bears
next weekend.
UBC can find salvation in knowing that they are capable of defeating the once unbeatable Golden
Bears, who before this season had
held UBC at bay for 39 straight.
Dragacevic has already started
strategising and said that UBC will
have to neutralise U of A’s speed in
order to have any chance securing
a berth to the CIS championship.
“They’re not a physical team but
highly skilled,” he said. “We have
to control the walls and control the
corners.” u—
—with files from CiTR