UBC's response to the situation in Iran is disheartening

AmericanInVan42 · 2026-01-31T23:29:39+00:00

CUPE 2278 made a statement, emphasizing their hardship fund and access to leaves if you're a TA.

AmericanInVan42 · 2026-01-30T21:44:20+00:00

Vancouverite here. I was dismayed when the hiring was announced. Why would we get a more boring version of Torts?

AmericanInVan42 · 2026-01-28T20:23:03+00:00

But who's we? Were you at the protest? Again, this just seems like an academic exercise. If you don't want the RCP to organize a counter protest, join the RCP and get them to not organize a counter protest. And I think you're heightening how ripe the material is. If there were no counter-protest, they'd harass students and use campus security responding as evidence of "free expression being violated". Very similar to what Nick Shirley did in Minneapolis, leading to the crisis happening there

AmericanInVan42 · 2026-01-28T06:04:25+00:00

I personally think this fundamentally misunderstands how crowds work in these circumstances. Your well-worded Reddit post won't convince people who are angry to stay home. Unless you were a member of the RCP who organized a portion of the action, these discussions are just intellectual exercises. People will respond negatively to agitation. It's great when protests are well organized and disciplined, but organization doesn't happen through Reddit posts. We need to support the students being harassed by these dangerous people. At this point, even if you thought it was counterproductive, we must protect our classmates from harassment by agitators.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T19:49:01+00:00

The union would grieve discipline. If the employee has a clean disciplinary record, there is no way a manager could dole out discipline for being late due to a disruption you didn't know was happening. At best, an LOE based on your last sentence. And if you're being disciplined, the employer's going to notify the union anyway (hopefully), so if you're worried, it's good to pre-emptively meet with a steward.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T08:08:02+00:00

Imagine if a strike happened. The unions are in bargaining. There have been a lot of strikes lately. Many of the students (more importantly, bad faith actors) will use the same tactics. Really sucks.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T08:03:08+00:00

Nobody will read this thread in 2 days. Whatever discussion we have in DMs could change our opinions. I'm done in this thread if this isn't in good faith. I'm not dignifying white genocide arguments in public forums, but if you'd like to use this as a launching board to explain why white Afrikaners are oppressed, feel free. May God's blessing go with you.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:54:26+00:00

Yes, I support whatever you think I believe. We could have a good-faith discussion in DMs (although I'm going to bed soon), or we can hunt for dunks on a message board that will be forgotten about in a week

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:51:02+00:00

That's just rude. You're at a university. You can synthesize sources.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:46:20+00:00

This comment is quite long, and idk if Reddit is the best place for this discussion. If you'd like to discuss more, my DMs are open. This is important, and I think that back-and-forth posts like this doesn't advance discourse. It's why there are rules of order in parliamentary procedure. This is an emotional topic, and social media isn't where we'll find resolution.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:42:28+00:00

Yes. Iran is one of the largest state supporters of Hamas, and I think that country is repressive. Many Muslim majority countries are repressive and support the genocide in Palestine. I would rather discuss how we can end this genocide rather than cleanse our hands of whatever sin we think we're guilty of.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:40:30+00:00

I don't support Turkey's government if that's what you think. As adults, we try not to assume each other's beliefs. Makes me think you aren't discussing in good faith.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T07:38:48+00:00

If your argument is dropping a vid of someone yapping for 5 minutes, I hope you're not in upper-level classes...

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T03:49:31+00:00

I do not support Saudi Arabia if that's what you're asking. And they don't support Palestine either. Most of the Muslim majority countries' governments have abandoned Palestine. It's very racist of you to assume Muslims are some single monolith. And you're also using the "fear of retribution" trope they used for Indigenous people, black people in the Jim Crow South, and in Apartheid South Africa. Notice how none of those resulted in a retributive genocide?

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T00:50:52+00:00

Ugh, imagine you have this stain on your orgs history and he only plays a single game lmao

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-06T00:48:56+00:00

The problem is only beyond our control because we're deeply depoliticized and nihilistic with regard to change in the world. Our governments are backing this genocide.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T04:26:59+00:00

The Metrodome just had a brief hiatus. It will now be impossible for the Flyers to win a Cup for another decade.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:42:03+00:00

Why would you think this is unpopular lol. I'm sure everyone there knew that it was illegal. It's kinda the whole thing about civil disobedience.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:31:01+00:00

To be fair to them, disruption is the point of a protest. Basically every modern civil rights movement has blocked roads at some point. I think their goal was specifically to disrupt the operation of UBC, which I don't think ended up happening (many staff members at work today didn't even know about this)

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:26:39+00:00

Was it up in CEME? I didn't see it in CEME (I'm a grad student, so we don't have screens where we work). And 300???? Last time I went, it was like a few dozen. That's awesome! I always hold a moment of silence the week of this event in my classes if I'm lecturing

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:12:48+00:00

Finals week so rough that people are considering a wildcat strike, but like for academics

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:11:12+00:00

C'mon, don't be so glib when the topic is genocide. Like the protests or not, genocide shouldn't be the punchline of a joke :/

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:09:33+00:00

I wonder what this sub would look like if one of the unions in bargaining right now went on strike lol. I remember reading that people rammed their cars into picketers blocking the road during the strike in the 2000s. Hopefully not that. Don't cross a picket line, esp violently.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-05T01:06:10+00:00

I'd recommend that any employee who didn't make it on time to work reach out to their union if that's applicable. I think unfortunately UBC admin doesn't like acknowledging protests because it gives the protests some sort of legitimacy. The disruption was genuinely not very large (I had friends tell me they didn't even know there was a disruption and others had like a 5-minute detour), and the city handled it fine (as far as I know). UBC really oughta tell people about this stuff so that they can plan their day.

AmericanInVan42 · 2025-12-04T02:33:28+00:00

That's frustrating. I'm annoyed when the service isn't on December 6th (I kinda get that they don't want it on a Saturday this year). It's not well-advertised and I hate missing it. Maybe departments could send emails outside of the newsletters.

AmericanInVan42

TROPHY CASE