UBC prof speaks out against Olympic torch video

Controversial images in the Olympic torch promotional video have caused some disturbance, reported CTV.

The video uses images from the 1936 torch relay in Berlin that shows a torchbearer entering the stadium during the time when the Nazi Party ruled Germany. While the original image shows people saluting to the Nazi party, the VANOC video replaced this with a black background.

VANOC said that it was to respect the relay’s past without having to show any political approval of the event.

UBC English professor Ira Nadel said he was “surprised” that VANOC used pictures from Hitler’s propaganda films, and thought maybe the filmmakers were “unaware of the context of the footage.”

“[The 1936 Olympics] was the Summer Games, it wasn’t even the Winter Games,” he said. “That’s really, pardon me, idiotic.”

China blacklists University of Calgary

China may soon no longer accept academic degrees from the University of Calgary, as the Chinese government feels offended by the university granting an honorary degree to the Dalai Lama, reported CBC.

There are over 600 students from Hong Kong and mainland China studying at Calgary, and some are worried they won’t be able to find jobs upon returning home.

The university claims to have known that their action was going to be controversial, but is looking to “work to resolve that issue.”
UBC has also awarded an honorary degree to the Dalai Lama, but no changes on UBC’s accreditation status in China have been announced.

UBC CompSci excels at Battle of the Brains

A team of Computer Science students placed 14th at the 2010 ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.
The students competed against 103 teams from all over the world last Friday.

Also known as the Battle of the Brains, the five-hour computer programming contest challenges teams to answer 5 to 12 problems based on real-life situations. This annual contest is one of the oldest computer programming contests in the world and was held in China this year.

“The tenacity and talent of UBC’s Computer Science students never ceases to impress me,” said Bill Aiello, head of the Computer Science department.