Spencer Izen

Opinion Editor and Deputy Managing Editor

Spencer has served as opinion editor since 2023 and now also serves as deputy managing editor, responsible for editorial policy and developing and delivering journalism training. Outside The Ubyssey, Spencer is the research coordinator of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) and has previously held research positions at UBC, NYU, and McGill. In 2023, the Book and Periodical Council of Canada named Spencer its Champion of Free Expression for 2023, awarded for his "major contribution to the defence or promotion of free expression in Canada." Two years earlier, he co-drafted the Student Press Freedom Act, a proposed law to protect high school journalists that earned the endorsement of most major Canadian civil liberties organizations. Spencer is a fourth-year political science and information studies student. His reporting e-mail is s.izen@ubyssey.ca and his editorial e-mail is opinion@ubyssey.ca.

Pinned

A photo of BC's Law of Court which is a large concrete and glass building.

Four UBC professors and a recent PhD graduate student have filed a lawsuit against the university alleging official land acknowledgments done by UBC, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) hiring requirements and academic units' statements regarding Israel and Palestine violate UBC’s duty to “be non-sectarian and non-political in principle” under section 66 of the University Act.

The image shows a protestor speaking into a microphone in front of the alumni centre.

As UBC’s Board of Governors (BoG) met in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre to approve the university’s 2025/26 budget last Friday, a group of about two-dozen protesters called on the BoG from outside the locked and guarded Alumni Centre to divest from companies they say are complicit in genocide and human rights abuses in Gaza and the West Bank.

A photograph of The Ubyssey's office, centred on a column of eight cubicles running through the middle of the space, with doors to a few rooms on the left side and windows facing McInnes field on the right. The ceiling is white and features exposed pipes and ventilation, and a grey concrete column rises through the back-right corner of the room,

If you've got informed opinions and enjoy writing, research and critical thinking, you can apply to be one of our new opinion columnists. Applications are due January 2, 2025

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