UBC Prioritizes Octogenarians Over Student Life
A proposal went though recently to put a hospice on campus. This seems like a great way for UBC to make some extra coin on some of the campuses unused land. Problem though – one of the proposed sites for the hospice is behind St. John’s College – right next to first year residence Place Vanier (check out the proposed site here and the rest of them here). Obviously, PPPAC (the group with the responsibility to vet many of the incoming proposals) don’t have their heads screwed on straight.
Putting an end of life facility next to a residence could be UBC’s greatest artistic experiment in juxtaposition, but it won’t due students any favours. This is the moral equivalent of making a nuclear testing ground a national park. New lines in the residence contract (already one of the most misunderstood and worst written documents on campus) would have to state the following:
Residents shall not make any noise about 0.5 decibels after the designated ‘Lights Out’ time at St. John Hospice – 6:00pm. Residents are also prohibited from playing any rap music including: anything that has some black chap who is a high school dropout with his pants around his knees causing a ruckus.
The rest of the contract would be outlined from this site.
This is maybe the most absurd thing to happen to the campus in my 5 year memory. But there are things we can do to stop it. The UBC Board of Governors is voting on the proposal on September 17th. After that the Residence for the Soon-to-be-Dead will become a reality. There is still time to e-mail you BOG rep and voice your opposition. Student reps are Bijan Ahmadian and Michael Duncan. You can reach them at bijan(at)bijan(dot)ca and michael(dot)ubc(at)gmail(dot)com. There is also a Facebook group that you can join to spread the word about what is happening.
Stay tuned to Terry, my site, and UBC Insiders for all the up to date information.
Also, be sure to check out Alex Lougheed’s excellent recap of the progression so far.
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There is certainly enough potential for the noise at Place Vanier to intrude on this care facility that its proposed location is a poor choice. However, I find the tone of argument you are taking to be insensitive to the needs of the residents of such a hospice. There are plenty of good arguments to be made that don’t come across like typical Millienial self-centeredness. “We just wanna party” is far less effective than “1000 junior undergraduates are loud and likely to disrupt the lives of hospice residents on a regular basis.” It is fine to represent students’ needs as well, but no where do I get the sense that you give a rat’s ass about the so-called “Soon-to-be-Dead” (a somewhat insensitive and undignified moniker to be handed by a young whelp at the end of one’s life).
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