Happy 100th birthday to us! For a century now we’ve been reporting on every hard-hitting and mildly interesting story to come out of UBC's Vancouver campus. From AMS politics to university administration updates and everything in between, we’ve gathered a few headline highlights over the years for all our fellow history nerds to enjoy.
"UFeces" March 30, 1994
The most arguably controversial spoof issue to date, UFeces spoofed the paper itself and adopted the slogan “the vilest rag west of Blanca” which a prof had previously used to describe The Ubyssey. This edition was enough for the AMS to fire the editors and change the locks, which led to the paper becoming independent one year later. We’re still good friends with the AMS though and they definitely love everything we publish.
"Leathermen are out and playing" February 12, 1993
The annual Valentine's Day sex issue has evolved a lot over the years. In 1993 we published a two-page spread explaining the world of S&M. Check it out for a breakdown of “handkerchief codes,” which may not be accurate upon reflection.
“Engineers wave bye-bye to cairn” March 8, 1988
In an introductory sentence that can never be topped, The Ubyssey reported “Six forestry students clear-cut the engineer’s cairn ...” The destruction of the Cairn was apparently payback for engineering pranks that had led to stolen forestry cars over the years. The forestry students made sure to sign their work and spelled out “Forestry” from the cairn’s remains.
“Library cool as a stewed cucumber” September 22, 1964
When Woodward library opened in 1964, it was the first fully air-conditioned building on campus. Like many buildings, the library opened before it was completely finished, and we reported on the hot conditions pre-air conditioning and the lack of typewriters in the typewriting room.
“UBC Men Criticize Leg Paint” October 23, 1942
With a dubious statistic reporting that one quarter of women are leg painting – the act of painting your legs to look like nylons (adopted during WWI when nylon supplies were limited), The Ubyssey ran some comments from male students. “Better than nothing,” “Hideous” and “Anything’s good that comes in a bottle” were some of the er, frank comments.
“Book Exchange” February 16, 1932
The Ubyssey ran a list of like, 100 names of people who had “returns due to them from book-sales.” Only hard hitting journalism here, folks.