The UBC Bookstore was an unexpected source of controversy this year. It was originally set to change its name to “UBC Central” in August, but this was met with an outcry from students and faculty who were upset at the de-emphasis on books. A petition against the name change gathered nearly 1000 signatures, including the dean of Arts, Gage Averill. The Bookstore decided to postpone the name change. The primary motivation for the name change was to offset dropping book sales by increasing other retail sales. In October, a Ubyssey investigation revealed that the Bookstore had told at least one merchandise supplier to cut off an AMS store or risk losing its Bookstore contract. And in April, the Board of Governors approved a $5 million expansion for the Bookstore—all for non-book retail space. (Photo Jessica Li/The Ubyssey)

UBC is set to become the first large university in Canada to use broad-based admissions across all faculties. This means that instead of exclusively focusing on grades as a basis for admission, the university will look at extracurricular activities and life experience. Until now, Arts and Commerce were the only major faculties to use broad-based admissions. The response to this change has mostly been positive. The Globe and Mail ran a very supportive column, seeing this as a move to diversify UBC’s stagnating student culture. Coupled with an increased focus on Grade 11 marks for early admission and the abolishment of the President’s Entrance Scholarship, which was based solely on marks, UBC is making significant changes to the way it takes in students. It is no coincidence that UBC’s admission system is starting to look very similar to that of Ivy League schools. (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

Since 2006, the only thing to look forward to in each UBC football season has been the Shrum Bowl. The team simply wasn’t good, bordering on irrelevant. But that all changed this year, with a rollercoaster of a season that captured the attention of thousands of students. In his second year as UBC’s coach, Shawn Olson managed to completely revitalize the program. The former Vanier Cup-winning quarterback took Billy Greene under his wing. By the end of the year, Greene was not only the best quarterback in the country, but the best player in the country. UBC finished the season 6-2, and won all four of their home games. Prior to this year, UBC hadn’t won a home game since 2008. They finished second in the Canada West and won a home playoff game, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since 1999. Over 3000 fans came to Thunderbird Stadium to watch the ‘Birds beat Saskatchewan 27-22 in the Canada West quarterfinals. The following week, UBC was blown out by Calgary in the Canada West final. And then, insult onto injury: after the season ended, the T-Birds self-reported that they had accidentally used an ineligible player all season. The Canada West stripped them of all of their victories, and left them with an official record of 0-8. This made Billy Greene the only player in Canadian university history to play for a winless team and be named the national MVP. (Photo David Elop/The Ubyssey)

In November, we ran a long feature that examined whether the UBC women’s volleyball team was the greatest dynasty in the university’s athletic history. If there was any doubt, this year’s performance may have erased it. The T-Birds entered the Canada West final as the No. 1 seed, but were upset by the University of Alberta Pandas in five sets. Yet they had already clinched their spot in the nationals, and still entered the tournament as a force to be reckoned with. In the national championship game they once again faced off against the Pandas, and, spurred on by a spectacular fourth set, emerged victorious. This was the T-Birds’ fifth straight championship, a massive accomplishment in a very competitive league. UBC will only lose two players from this year’s team, giving them a very good chance for another championship in 2013. One of the players leaving is Kyla Richey, who now joins four other former Thunderbirds on Canada’s national team as they vie for a spot in the Olympics. (Photo courtesy UBC Athletics)

UBC’s land use department, Campus and Community Planning (CCP), has been looking for places to increase housing density on campus. They slated the area around the bus loop, known as the Gage South “Area Under Review,” as a site for future housing that would include faculty and families. In September, a small group of students launched a petition to keep Gage South as an area for student housing only. Because of its proximity to MacInnes Field, where outdoor concerts are held in September and April, the worry was that including non-student housing in the area would take away the freedom of students to use the space. After many contentious consultations and accusations that CCP was operating in a non-transparent and manipulative manner, CCP decided in March to recommend that the Board of Governors designate Gage South as “Academic.” This would keep the area’s housing for students alone. The student leaders of the movement, the most vocal of whom were Neal Yonson and Sean Cregten, declared victory. (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

During the World War Two, 76 Japanese-Canadian UBC students were interned and not allowed to return to UBC to complete their degrees. Mary Kitagawa, a fourth-generation Japanese-Canadian, started a petition last fall to grant honorary degrees to these former students, but the UBC Senate hesitated. Instead of issuing an honorary baccalaureate, UBC wanted to find a different way to honour the students because this was a special case that didn’t fall under the normal tribute policies. After public outrage about the delay, the Senate finally decided in November to create a new type of honorary degree with a different title, along with creating a minor in Asian-Canadian studies and a tribute symposium. The degrees will be presented at a special ceremony for the former students in May. “I always considered myself a UBC student,” said honorary degree recipient Mits Sumiya, who was interned during the war. “It’s a great feeling,” he said of the honorary degrees. “It’s like coming home.” (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

It is almost impossible to guess what will captivate the attention of students on any given day, but an anonymous photo-sharing site did the job earlier this year. Peeked Interest, a website that allows you to upload a photo of an attractive stranger in the hope that they will see it and respond, was launched by UBC student Frans Kouwenhoven and former University of Victoria student Darryl McIvor. The Ubyssey’s story about Peeked Interest quickly went viral after being posted in March, racking up nearly 5000 page views since then. The website has now been taken offline to work on improvements over the summer, but it reports that 450 photos were uploaded over a six-week trial period and 45 people reached out to a submitter after recognizing themselves in the photo. (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

Last June, UBC Master’s student Rumana Monzur was brutally attacked and blinded by her husband while at home in Bangladesh. The story became international news, and the campus mobilized in widespread support for Monzur. A university-wide fundraising campaign aimed towards her recovery hit $61,000 by late July. The university reserved housing for Monzur, her two parents and five-year-old daughter. UBC also arranged financial support and made accommodations to help the now-blind student finish her thesis. Despite multiple surgeries in Vancouver, Monzur has not regained her eyesight. In December, her husband died in custody at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

When UBC opened two new residence buildings in Totem Park last August, nobody anticipated the array of problems the super-sustainable structures would encounter. The buildings had issues with the water heating system almost all year, making the showers so consistently cold that students in the new buildings received monetary compensation for their discomfort. There were also issues with exposed wiring and plumbing in common areas. The episode underscored the sometimes strained relationship between student employees of Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) and their superiors. Residence advisor Laura Fukumoto wrote a scathing piece in The Ubyssey, attacking the paternalistic way SHHS had handled the situation. Fukumoto said that RAs received the brunt of student frustration, but got little help from their bosses, who mostly smiled and said not to worry. SHHS said they will use the summer to fix the technical problems at Totem, and have fast-tracked the renovation of the older buildings. Whether the systemic issues can be repaired as easily remains to be seen. (Photo Kaitlyn Tissington/The Ubyssey)

When the BC Liberals announced their budget for the year, there weren’t many places getting an increase. But only one sector received a substantial cut: post-secondary education. Universities, colleges and other institutions will have to cut a total of $70 million out of their budgets over the next three years. And although the provincial government has said these cuts won’t affect student programs, the effects of cuts to rural colleges have already shown that claim to be untrue. While large research universities like UBC won’t feel the pinch right away, Pierre Ouillet, UBC’s VP Finance and Operations, has said that this funding model is not sustainable for the university. We don’t yet know what the consequences of these cuts are going to be, but they certainly won’t be good. (Photo Geoff Lister/The Ubyssey)

On the evening of February 8, Firehall 10 responded to a call that somebody was lying motionless near the junction of University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall. When they arrived, they found a deceased male who was soon identified as Travers Wimble. Wimble, who was homeless, had occupied a chair in the SUB every day for at least six years, reading newspapers and drinking coffee. The chair was empty on February 9. When students realized he had passed away, the outpouring was unprecedented. Within hours of the news breaking, a few newspapers and a Starbucks coffee cup were placed on his chair. Then, a bouquet of flowers and a candle. By the end of the day the chair had become a monument that attracted the attention of every passerby, and the news continued to spread. More information about Wimble slowly emerged, including that his wife and daughter had been killed in accidents years ago. The story crashed The Ubyssey’s servers, sending more than ten times our daily readership to the site. A memorial is now being built for Wimble, as a tribute to his daily, but quiet, presence in the lives of students. As our story put it: “He didn’t have a home. But he had a community.”