Top Stories
Updated 2d ago
news
Between the motions//
Council caps number of clubs, presents executive goals in June AMS meeting
opinion
Higher education//
Opinion: What should the university be?
features
welcome to the internet//
The paradoxical world of UBC influencers
humour
Do you even tip bro?//
New tipping initiative to solve all of UBC's financial woes
More Recent Stories
The Ubyssey
June 9
culture
Ichiko Aoba brings virtuosic ambient folk to the Chan Centre
Featuring creative, fluent melodies and complex jazz-inspired chords, even Aoba’s slower, more simple pieces like “Endive to Nemutte (Asleep Among Endives)” remained unpredictable yet satisfying, always ready to lead the listener into uncharted waters before bringing them back at the end of the song.
June 3
culture
The Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra: A concert 95 years in the making
On May 18th, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra held their 95 year anniversary concert at the Orpheum. The concert featured performances from the debut, junior, intermediate and senior orchestras, as well as guest performer and VYSO graduate Joanna G’Froerer.
June 2
news
St. John’s College slated for $560 million redevelopment, adding 1,338 beds
St. John’s College, a graduate residential college oriented towards global students, is looking to expand its facilities and capacity with a new redevelopment proposal.
READ OUR LATEST PRINT ISSUE
May 28
culture
Not Your Average Meeting: Inside a Circle of Secrets and Survival
Set and performed in a modest church activity room, Meeting follows five people in a support group for codependency, particularly around sexuality, love and identity.
May 26
features
A healthy understanding
May 26
news
Newly opened Gordon B. Shrum building hopes to house global biotech innovation
The new Gordon B. Shrum building opened its doors last month as the new home for the School of Biomedical Engineering with hopes of being a catalyst for global bioengineering research while improving patient health.
May 25
culture
Speak freely
When I mispronounced a word or made the wrong sound because of these similar articulations, I was met with laughter and pushed to repeat what I had said before getting support on correcting myself.
May 25
culture
Lucky Money and Sky Reports: Inside Vietnam’s Lunar New Year
Preparing for Tết is a big deal: homes are cleaned and decorated, special foods like sticky rice cakes (bánh chưng and bánh tét) are made, and everyone dresses in their finest clothes. There’s a belief that the first days of the new year set the tone for the rest of it, so people strive to keep spirits high, avoid bad luck and express hope for health, prosperity and happiness.
May 25
culture
History in bloom
The oldest cherry trees on campus are likely at Nitobe Memorial Garden. Fifty trees were shipped over from Japan as a symbol of Japanese-Canadian friendship for the garden’s opening in June 1960. Of this generation — found mostly in Nitobe but also on the Place Vanier stretch between Lower Mall and University Boulevard — there are likely 45 cherry trees left today.
May 25
culture
Awit natin ay ‘wag na ‘wag mong kalimutan
To me, Lapu Lapu Day, while beautiful, is another reminder that I don’t really belong here. It's like being in a liminal space. I can smell the food my grandma would cook for me when I was sick, but I also remember how hard I’ve had to search for any sense of community.
May 23
culture
SASC and SVPRO offer students sexual violence support on campus
The primary difference between SVPRO and the SASC is their affiliation.
May 23
humour
Take my unsolicited advice (or else): UBC survival tips from a recent grad
What is senior year for, if not reminiscing?
We need to broaden our understanding of resilience. It is not something you earn by suffering in silence. It is something that grows in connection.
News
Culture
MOA hosts Indigenous modern art with Rebecca Belmore's VALUE
Three pieces, “Wild,” “Fountain,” and “I AM WORTH MORE THAN ONE MILLION DOLLARS TO MY PEOPLE” are on display throughout the museum as of the exhibition’s May 15 opening, with the final piece, “Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking to Their Mother” arriving in August.
Ichiko Aoba brings virtuosic ambient folk to the Chan Centre
Featuring creative, fluent melodies and complex jazz-inspired chords, even Aoba’s slower, more simple pieces like “Endive to Nemutte (Asleep Among Endives)” remained unpredictable yet satisfying, always ready to lead the listener into uncharted waters before bringing them back at the end of the song.
The Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra: A concert 95 years in the making
On May 18th, the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra held their 95 year anniversary concert at the Orpheum. The concert featured performances from the debut, junior, intermediate and senior orchestras, as well as guest performer and VYSO graduate Joanna G’Froerer.
Not Your Average Meeting: Inside a Circle of Secrets and Survival
Set and performed in a modest church activity room, Meeting follows five people in a support group for codependency, particularly around sexuality, love and identity.
Features
The paradoxical world of UBC influencers
Second-year UBC student Allegra Kastner went viral once. For her, that was more than enough.
A healthy understanding
For Young Joe, the most rewarding part of being a medical interpreter is the look of relief that takes over patients and doctors’ faces as soon as she enters the room. Without her, conversation is impossible.
‘I want to see the weird in you’: Mila Zuo’s refreshingly honest take on cinema
Dr. Mila Zuo wasn’t always going to study film — but after taking a pornography course at UC Berkeley, she was hooked.
Opinion
Opinion: What should the university be?
Generative AI isn't just a tool, and its arrival raises deeper questions about who the university serves and what higher education seeks to do, writes Saskia Tholen.
Point of Inquiry: A student union is a bold promise — how can the AMS live up to it?
Despite our union’s near ubiquity in our lives, nearly five out of six eligible voters did not participate in this year’s AMS elections. But the AMS is a gift from previous generations — and despite its flaws, it remains well-positioned to be a force for social and institutional change, writes AMS Columnist Quyen Schroeder.
Opinion: UBC's Palestine Exception — how re-interpreting the University Act enabled a lawsuit
The University Act was never intended to compel “institutional neutrality.” It was the Bacon administration that helped cultivate and disseminate a “perverse interpretation” of the statute, paving the way for an absurd but perilous lawsuit, writes Pheroze Unwalla.
Humour
New tipping initiative to solve all of UBC's financial woes
Partnering with tech giants like The Evil Guys Who Invented 18 Per Cent Minimum Tip on Take-Out, UBC will require students to select a tip option before exiting every lecture hall, classroom and academic flex space.
Take my unsolicited advice (or else): UBC survival tips from a recent grad
What is senior year for, if not reminiscing?
Free, interesting UBC gym spots for free, interesting exercise
Why waste your time working out in a boring ol’ smelly ol’ gym, when you can use the UBC campus as your very own exercise paradise?
Science
Decolonizing neuroscience: Cross-cultural practice and reframing the field
Dr. Judy Illes and Dr. Melissa Perreault work with Indigenous researchers globally to advocate for and educate about Indigenous neuroethics. According to Perreault, their goals are twofold: to ensure research with communities is done ethically, and to demonstrate how Indigenous knowledge can enrich Western approaches to neuroscience.
Frictionless fuel: How UBC researchers detected hydrogen’s superfluidity and what it could mean for sustainability
Imagine a liquid that moves endlessly, without resistance — so smooth that it seems to defy the laws of physics. Researchers at UBC have observed this rare phenomenon in a molecular system for the first time.
How UBC scientists are working to better understand bird flu
As bird flu swoops across media outlets, UBC researchers are working to better understand and monitor this disease.
‘Hiding in plain sight’: UBC researchers discover a new type of brain cell that reshapes our understanding of memory
In a study published in Nature Communications on February 12, the pair along with other researchers in the UBC Faculty of Medicine discovered a new type of brain cell called ovoid cells that play a key role in our ability to recognize and remember objects.
Sports
From four to a force: How Isaac Qi led the UBC quadball team’s revival
At the beginning of the 2024-25 season, the UBC quadball team was in danger. Yet, at the heart of what would become a remarkable comeback, stood Isaac Qi.
UBC's MATTERS lab collaborates to bring adaptive activity gearbox to campus
With the RAD Society, Dr. William C Miller is working to provide low-cost rentals of adaptive recreation equipment, such as hand crank bikes, in an gearbox run out of the SRC.
Meet Jenna Holm, UBC's ice resurfacer
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the UBC alum found herself working in the arena and eventually behind the driver's seat of a Zamboni.
The Ubyssey's sports staff year-end report
For the end of the 2024/25 academic year, we rounded up our top sports + rec staff to look back on the monumental year.
Photo
Essence: Letter from the team
We dedicate this issue to all the storytellers who see the world not just through a lens but, most importantly, through a heart.
From headlines to harvests: Mike Wakefield's life in focus
After 37 years capturing North Shore stories, former photojournalist Mike Wakefield has traded cameras for crops in a quiet coastal community. Reflecting on a career shaped by patience, empathy and authenticity, Wakefield’s transition to farming mirrors his enduring passion for cultivating connection — whether through photographs or fresh garlic.
Travel, spontaneity & cameras: Kami Kanetsuka's path through photography
In her Bowen Island home filled with artifacts and memories, Kami Kanetsuka reflects on decades of travel and photography. From spontaneous street shots to lifelong connections, her work captures the heart of cultures worldwide. Her advice to aspiring photographers: find your own path and follow it.
Ralph Bower: The man behind the lens
At 90, Ralph Bower, an award-winning North Vancouver photojournalist, reflects on a remarkable 40-year career at the Vancouver Sun. With 8,000 photos and friendships spanning decades, including moments with Elvis Presley and Pat Quinn, Bower’s passion for photography and storytelling remains as vibrant as ever, preserving history one frame at a time.