UBC EXPERTS COMMENT
Vancouver Canucks, Stanley Cup Final and riots
As the Vancouver Canucks tried to win their first Stanley Cup title, UBC researchers provided expert commentary for the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun and others.
Professors Christopher Schneider, Toni Schmader, Andrew Irvine, Rima Wilkes, Peter Crocker, Rick White, Ann Stone, Paul Cubbon, Aziz Rajwani, Kerry Jang and others commented on the riots, marketing and branding issues, the use of social media by fans, sport psychology and more.
“The big thing is to enjoy the event and see the positives of the event, no matter what the outcome is. This has been a great run for the Canucks, it’s been exciting for everyone,” said Crocker to the Globe and Mail.
During the playoffs, UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre hosted the Canucks and Boston Bruins for team practices and media events.
Richard Lam, alumnus and official photographer for UBC Athletics, took the most talked about photo of the Stanley Cup Final, the “Riot Kiss” – an image of a couple lying on the street kissing as the riot ensues around them. The photo attracted extensive media attention and was featured on CNN, ABC, the BBC, NPR, the New York Daily News, the Vancouver Sun and many others.
UBC RESEARCH
Women, doctors misinformed about childbirth tools
A trio of studies led by Dr. Michael Klein, professor emeritus in family practice and pediatrics and senior scientist emeritus at the Child & Family Research Institute, shows many women seem unprepared to make their own decisions regarding childbirth options, such as whether to have natural childbirth or Cesarean sections, reported the Los Angeles Times, Toronto Sun and others.
“Even late in pregnancy, many women reported uncertainty about benefits and risks of common procedures used in childbirth,” said Dr. Klein. “This is worrisome because a lack of knowledge affects their ability to engage in informed discussions with their caregivers.
UBC Opinion
Op/Eds by UBC Profs
Several professors published commentaries last month. Here is a sample of what some UBC professors had to say:
Doug Owram argues that there needs to be more debate about tuition fees in University Affairs. “The relative absence of contention masks unresolved issues that require discussion, including accessibility, debt and adequate funding for universities.”
Paul Evans’s op/ed in the Globe and Mail explained the importance of China to the global economy. “With continued weakness in Europe and the U.S., sustaining even a mild recovery is inconceivable without it.”
Mark Schaller described his research on the behavioural immune system in Scientific American. “The behavioral immune system is our brain’s way of engaging in a kind of preventative medicine.”
Gavin Stuart wrote about the largest graduating class in B.C.’s history in the Vancouver Sun. “That milestone resulted from years of painstaking planning, intense teamwork, attentive relationship building and significant funding, all of it with one goal: improving the health of British Columbia.”
Michael Byers suggested Canada stop exporting subsidized bitumen in an effort to speed the transition to alternative energies in the Globe and Mail. “It would also place Canada on the right side of history.”
Maxwell Cameron provided context and background about the presidential election in Peru to the Financial Times. “Peru has a long way to go before it becomes a stable democracy with good governance and laws.”
Jon Beasley-Murray wrote an eye-witness account of the Stanley Cup riot for The Tyee. “It’s easier to grab this moral high ground… than to stop and consider the ways in which violence is engrained in this sport on whose bandwagon they are hitched, or the conditions that gave rise to the post-game disturbances.”
