Data Transparency and the Faculty Union
A group of faculty members organized a drive to get a data transparency motion on the agenda for the UBC Faculty Association’s AGM, held June 16/22. They managed…
Author: Charles Menzies
Round-Up Update
I received the following response from Kavie Toor regarding the use of ORUnd Up on fields at UBC. [see previous blog post] —— Dear Charles Thank you for…
Roundup, UBC Fields, and our Ecological Effects
I was walking by the field sponsored by Tourmaline Oil recently and one of the regular staff was spraying the margin under the fence with roundup. They said…
Grade Distribution
What is the appropriate distribution of grades in a university class? Is there a standard that is readily accepted? These kinds of questions often motivate grade discussions amongst…
Update On "Taking Action on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine at the UBC-V Senate"
On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, the joint committees met again to consider their action on the motion I had originally proposed for the March 16, 2022 meeting. The…
Taking Action on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine at the UBC-V Senate
Russia invaded the sovereign territory of Ukraine in between the February and March meetings of the UBC-V Senate. Given the urgency of the situation and the lack of…
Intersections of Indigenizing/Decolonizing and EDI
Universities in Canada are rushing toward EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) excellence* and decolonialization of pedagogy, structures, and practices. How these two liberal social justice pro…
American Anthropology, Apologies, and Apologetics
In November 2021 Akhil Gupta, president of the American Association of Anthropologists publicly apologized for the harm American Anthropologists have committed against Indigenous peoples. H…
Getting dropped from a feature on cancel culture
A lesson on getting oneself dropped from a feature article about cancel culture at UBC in the student paper. A month ago I was asked to do an…
Cancel Culture – an interview with a Ubyssey reporter
On November 4th I had the opportunity to sit down with a Ubyssey reporter to talk about cancel culture at UBC. The sprawling hour long interview covered a lot of topics and&nb…
UBC-V Senate Curriculum & the Indigenous Strategic Plan
An interesting discussion emerged in the senate curriculum committee yesterday (Oct. 25, 2021) about integrating aspects of the ISP into the working of the committee. I share my…
Roll Call Votes on the UBC Senate
A motion came to UBC-V’s senate Wednesday, April 14th that would have made recording the vote of each senator for each motion a rule of senate. The advocates…
President’s Advisory Committee for hiring a new Dean of Arts, UBC-V: election.
Update, April 20, 2021. The election is over and I was not among the four elected. Thank you to those who did vote me for, I appreciate your…
Making the cut – who gets to be an appointed governor at UBC?
In December of 2020 I was interviewed by a Ubyssey reporter about UBC’s Board of governors and who appointed governors were selected. In March of 2021 the article was…
UBC-V boots Proctorio off of Campus.
I have never used these kinds of invigilation software for any of my classes. They violate civil liberties. They invade personal privacy way more than is acceptable. I…
Year in the Rearview Mirror
A year ago today things already felt unsettled. News of COVID-19 was spreading. The early January news feed about outbreaks in China had now been surpassed by the…
Michael Marker – Indigenous Scholar
Oct 20, 1951 – Jan 15, 2021. Last time I met Michael he was scootering down Main Mall through the athletics’ fields. Over the course of the pandemic…
Unintended consequences – graduate student funding at UBC-V
There is a lot of variation in how graduate students at UBC-V are funded. One of the biggest differences is found in how research Master’s and research Doctoral…
Parsing out Identity Claims
Identity is as much about how others see us as it is about how we see ourselves. Identity depends upon how we feel about ourselves, how we present…
My Mother was a White Women
Shirley Marie Menzies, née Naud. Born Sept. 13, 1932. Died April 18, 2013. My mother was a teacher, that was her vocation, as much as it was for moments…
Tracking UBC leaderships’ statements on winter break travel.
Dr. Berman. Director of the School of Population and Public Health. January 6, 2021. Dear SPPH Community, In light of recent events and news stories this past week,…
Ubyssey interview on UBC security and defunding the police.
In late November, 2020 I was interviewed by the Ubyssey about the external review of UBC’s security force and the place of the RCMP on campus. The article was…
"If you Aren’t Scared Sh*tless, You Aren’t Learning"
“It you aren’t scared shitless, you aren’t learning,” the prof said to us. We all laughed. The prof doubled down, “Learning should shake you, disturb you, confront you…
Men, Check Your Privilege.
My father is in his early 90s. That is one amazing privilege to have. He would be the first to say being old isn’t easy. But he is…