There are nine international fraternities on campus, the first of which was Alpha Delta Phi in 1926. However Alpha Delta Phi was preceded by several local fraternities on campus. Other fraternities include Alpha Epsilon Pi, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, and Kappa Sigma.
The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) member organizations (sororities) on campus are overseen by the Panhellenic Council. All sororities have a chapter room in the Panhellenic House on Wesbrook Mall; the building also offers housing for 72 college women, with preference given to sorority members.
The eight sororities on the Vancouver campus include Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. The 2010 Panhellenic Total for UBC campus was 65, but the average chapter size after September 2011 recruitment was 79. Chapter meetings are held in the chapter's respective rooms each week and Greek-wide or campus-wide events are attended by members of all the sororities and fraternities. Formal recruitment for the sororities begin during the second week of September and is a 4 day process consisting of: Tours (first 2 days), Invitationals and Preference.
Residences
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| UBC Dene House at Totem Park |
According to a 2009 UBC Student Housing Study, UBC currently provides approximately 8680 beds on the Point Grey campus for an on-campus student population of about 11,000 people. The UBC administration has recognized the need for more student housing on campus, forecasting the need for 6400 new beds on campus within the next 20 years, and has expanded housing recently with the opening of the Marine Drive towers and the MBA house residence on South Campus.
Currently, there are two dormitory style residences on campus, primarily for first and second year students: Totem Park and Place Vanier. Totem Park, housing about 1163 students, consists of six dormitory buildings (Nootka, Dene, Haida, Salish, Kwakiutl, and Shuswap Houses), and a Commons Block (Coquihalla). All houses, except Shuswap, are co-ed, with alternating men's and women's floors. Shuswap house is currently the only house at Totem with co-ed floors (that is, men and women are allowed to live on the same floor). Although some Totem Park students join Greek organizations and other social clubs, many residence floors form a cohesive social group; some floors host lighthearted 'initiation' events year-to-year.
Place Vanier, housing 1370 people, consists of 12 blocks constructed in 1959 (Robson House), 1960 (Okanagan, Sherwood Lett, Mackenzie, Ross, Hamber and Mawdsley Houses), 1961 (Kootenay House), 1968 (Cariboo and Tweedsmuir Houses), 2002 (Korea-UBC House) and 2003 (Tec de Monterrey-UBC House). The buildings vary from Male and Female only, to alternating gender floors, as well as fully mixed floors. The residences have both single and double rooms, with each floor having a lounge and communal bathrooms.
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| UBC Marine Drive |
It consists of three interconnected towers (North, South, and East) as well as single student housing (both studio, and apartment) in a separate adjacent building. The towers are composed of "quads" which consist of 4 separate pods, each consisting of 6 individual bedrooms, a bathroom and a communal kitchen/dining area.
Adjacent to the Acadia Park residence area on the east part of campus is Fairview Crescent, a residence primarily for second and third year undergraduate students. Fairview also houses many graduate students. The residence consists of an L-Shaped pedestrian-only street lined with 4, 5 & 6 student (a mix of single-sex and co-ed) townhouses. The Beanery coffee shop is nestled in the middle of the residence.
The Thunderbird residences are primarily for graduate students and fourth year undergraduate students and are located at the southern edge of the academic core campus. The Ritsumeikan-UBC House is a residence with a Japanese cultural setting, named for Ritsumeikan University. Houses Japanese exchange students and Canadian students, who participate in unique inter cultural programmes. The residence's tatami room is used for practice sessions by the UBC Urasenke Japanese tea ceremony club. Two Canadian students are typically paired with two Japanese exchange students.
The newest addition to UBC Vancouver's student housing is the Marine Drive Residence, which is situated on the west side of campus slightly south of Place Vanier. The first phase, consisting of Building 1 (an 18-floor tower) and Building 2 (a 5 floor building commonly called the "Podium") opened Fall 2005, and is the most expensive residence on campus. In February 2006, the Board of Governors approved plans for the second phase of Marine Drive, finally putting an end to the debacle caused by concerns over the view of Wreck beach (Phase I's Building 1 was reduced from 20 floors to 18 because of this). Phase II consists of Buildings 4 through 6 (two towers and another "Podium", respectively), and also the Commonsblock. Buildings 4 through 6 were all open to students as of September 2008. A separate Commonsblock (the current Front Desk being located in building 1) was completed in summer 2009, and contains similar services to the Commonsblocks of other residences, such as exercise, game, and study rooms. Construction at Marine Drive was completed in February 2010, with the opening of a restaurant in building 4.
The University has two Colleges dedicated to accommodation for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scholars: St. John's College and Green College.
Athletics
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| The outdoor pool at the Aquatics Centre |
The University of British Columbia's sports teams are called the Thunderbirds. The Thunderbirds participate in the CIS's Canada West Universities Athletic Association for most varsity sports. However, several varsity teams at UBC compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. UBC is considering joining the NCAA Division II. With a long history of competing in sports, the Thunderbirds have garnered a number of championships. In particular, the women swimmers who had represented UBC had brought back 22 conference championships and 16 national championships.
The University of British Columbia has a number of athletic facilities open to both their varsity teams as well as to their students. The stadium with the largest seating capacity at UBC is the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre. The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre is home to the varsity ice hockey teams and was also used as a venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Other facilities at UBC includes Thunderbird Stadium, home to the university's football and soccer varsity teams, UBC Aquatic Centre, home to the university's swimming teams, the War Memorial Gymnasium, home to the university's basketball and volleyball varsity teams and Thunderbird Park, home to the university's many other outdoor varsity teams.
The university has also had a long history of sending a number of students to represent their countries at the Olympics. Since having its first athlete sent to the Olympics in 1928, a total of 231 individuals from UBC have represented their respective countries at the Olympics. The total number of individual medals athletes from UBC had won was 61, with 19 gold, 21 silver and 24 bronze. The majority of these medals won had come from the sport of rowing.
Fight song
Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement and convocation, and athletic games are: "Hail, U.B.C" with words and music by Harold King and "High on Olympus" with words by D.C. Morton and music by J.C.F. Haeffner.
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| A panorama of the Rose Garden at the University of British Columbia. |
Campus events
A small number of large-scale, campus-wide events occur annually at UBC which are organized by university institutions, the AMS, and student constituencies of various faculties and departments. UBC Orientations organizes several events for first year students, such as Imagine UBC, GALA, and UBC Jump Start. Imagine UBC is an orientation day and pep rally for first-year undergraduate students that replaces the first day of September classes at UBC Vancouver.
Several athletic events take place at UBC every year. Storm the Wall is an intramural relay race put on by UBC REC in April, culminating in the climbing of a 12-foot (3.7 m) wall. It is one of the largest intramural events to take place regularly in Canada. Day of the Longboat is an intramural event put on at the end of September/early October by UBC REC. It is the largest voyageur canoe race in North America, with teams competing in a challenging 2 km paddle around the waters of Jericho Sailing Centre.
Faculty constituencies, such as the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) and Science Undergraduate Society (SUS), hold events annually. Many of the major constituencies, such as for Arts, Science, and Engineering, hold their own faculty weeks to celebrate their faculties. The events may include keynote speeches, merchandise sales, and dances. Arts County Fair was an annual concert and party on the last day of classes in April, put on by the AUS and occurring at Thunderbird Stadium. Past headliners have included Sam Roberts, The New Pornographers, and Metric. Due to increasing financial difficulties (mostly resulting from mounting security and related costs) the AUS announced they would not continue the event in 2008. In its place, the Alma Mater Society of UBC hosted the AMS Block Party to celebrate the end of classes.
Additionally, a number of unofficial 'traditions,' exist at UBC: jumping from the UBC Aquatic Centre's outdoor 10-metre diving board late at night; and frequent repainting of the Engineering cairn, refashioning its large red-and-white 'E' into other letters representative of other faculties, clubs, and groups.
Notable people
Throughout UBC's history, faculty, alumni, and former students have played prominent roles in many different fields. Many UBC alumni and faculty have gone on to win awards including seven Nobel Prizes and 67 Rhodes Scholarships.
Former alumni who have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize include Robert Mundell who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and Bertram Brockhouse, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics. Four former faculty members of the UBC have also received a Nobel Prize, including Michael Smith who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Har Gobind Khorana who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Daniel Kahneman who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work in prospect theory, and Carl Wieman who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Many former students have also gained local and national prominence for serving in government. Notably, the university had produced two Canadian Prime Ministers, Kim Campbell and John Turner. Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark had also briefly attended UBC law.George Stanley, the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick and creator of the current Canadian flag had also served as a faculty member of the university. Several alumni have also served as Premiers of British Columbia including, Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark and Ujjal Dosanjh. People of UBC have also served on the Supreme Court of Canada including former faculty member Beverley McLachlin and former alumnus Frank Iacobucci.
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