The Ubyssey
An independent, nonprofit, public service student press covering the University of British Columbia community since 1918.
FEBRUARY 12, 2026
VOLUME CVII | ISSUE XI
Published in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territories of the Coast Salish peoples including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (TsleilWaututh) nations.
SINCE 1918
The Ubyssey’s 2026 sex supplement: PERFORMANCE
// 10-15
You’ve worried about performing before. Maybe you waited in the auditorium wings with sweaty palms, listening for your cue. You might have shivered on the doorstep of a new lover’s house, white knuckles shaking an inch above the door. Or maybe you just looked in the mirror this morning and figured you were trying too hard with that skirt-sweater combination. You’ve worried about performing — so have we. In this year’s sex supplement, writers navigate the blurry lines between friendship and love, weigh being deemed ‘performative’ against the joy of self-determination, and interrogate ingrained biases about what men and women ‘should’ be. Others chart the history of Numbers Cabaret, where performance has long been synonymous with survival, or quiz UBC profs on what ‘queer music’ really means. Whether you do it onstage or in bed, performance is a fine line to walk. You have to balance between aptitude and effort, show your worth and express your truth but make it all seem natural, like you aren’t really trying at all. Performance is nerve-wracking and mundane. It’s a veil, a lock, a mirror and a key. It’s you. - Julian Coyle Forst, Elena Massing Arts & Culture Editor, Features Editor SKYE SHEN / THE UBYSSEY
Can passing hide the past? Wild People Quiet follows Florence, a Métis woman who hides her identity and passes as white in 1940s Saskatchewan.
ARTS & CULTURE // 2
AMS executives midterm reviews The Ubyssey spoke to AMS executives about progress on their goals and plans for the rest of the year.
Is Canadian football becoming ‘more American’?
NEWS //3-4
The game of Canadian football is changing. With new rules implemented in September, the CFL will alter their game substantially. With an infrastructure built upon the pro league’s foundation, university football — and, by extension, UBC — may have to change with them. Article form by Author Author position What makes Canadian football ‘Canadian’? Perhaps it’s purely about the physical location: Canadian-based organizations in Canadian communities participating in a sport that traces its origins back to 19th-century Montreal. Is it more intangible? Maybe Canadian-ness is the culmination of the unique culture and traditions that have arisen around the sport. Or maybe it’s more about the game and its rules. The rouge — a single point awarded after kicking the ball through the end zone. Three downs. 12 players. 110-yard fields with 20-yard end zones and uprights on the goal line. These are all unequivocally Canadian features, distinct from American variations of gridiron football. In September, CFL commissioner Stewart
Johnston announced a series of rule changes to be implemented in 2026 and 2027, the league’s most significant transformation in decades. Hoping to expand their appeal, the CFL’s modifications primarily focus on smoothing out the game and increasing scoring — specifically, touchdowns — an aspect of the sport that many consider more exciting. Johnston said that the modifications aim to “make our fantastic game even more entertaining, and to win in the attention economy.” Given their concern with audience growth, it’s not surprising that several new rules seemingly mimic the CFL’s immensely popular American cousin, the NFL. With a record US$23 billion in revenue over the 2025 fiscal year, the NFL is unequivocally the most lucrative sports league in the world, with nearly double the earnings of the
second-place MLB. The 2025 Super Bowl achieved an average viewership of 127.7 million, making it the most-watched TV event in NFL history, according to Nielsen. Comparatively, seven of the CFL’s nine teams failed to return a profit in 2024, while the 2025 CFL championship game, the Grey Cup, was viewed by less than 4 million people. Perhaps most worrisome for the Canadian league, recent studies indicate that even within Canada, the NFL is more popular than the CFL. A 2023 report by the Angus Reid Institute found that around 20 per cent of Canadians said they followed the NFL closely, compared to 16 per cent for the CFL. Even worse, 62 per cent of football fans in Canada said they would choose to watch the NFL’s Super Bowl over the CFL’s Grey Cup. Continued on pages 8-9.
Ubyssey Publications Society:
Run for the Board of Directors! key dates: Nominations open until February 20 Campaigning starts March 2 Voting opens March 9 and closes March 13 at 5:00 p.m.
Paper forms are available in baskets outside the business office (Nest 2209) and editorial office (Nest 2208). Forms can be returned to either office, or slipped under the door if nobody is there. Needs 12 nominees. This year, four atlarge Board positions are up for grabs. More on page 2
Lucy Borowski’s volleyball journey HANNAH CHENG / THE UBYSSEY
On Netflix’s strange relationship with the cinema experience Column by Fiona Pulchny Columnist When Netflix announced that it was buying Warner Bros. last December, I wasn’t necessarily shocked. Given the track record of Big Tech and streaming companies butting into the industry (see Amazon’s purchase of MGM in 2021), Warner Bros. is just another of the Big Five studios surpassed by the new industry dominators. But in an age of rapid, on-demand media consumption, what purpose — if any — does the cinematic experience have? A cornerstone of Hollywood since the 1920s, Warner Bros. revolutionized the industry from the first feature-length “talkie,” The Jazz Singer, to classics like Casablanca and the zany Looney Tunes cartoons. Now they — and titles under HBO and HBO Max — will all fall under Netflix’s domain. The announcement sent a shockwave through film workers and followers, who feared it would mark the ultimate end of theatre-going. An essay in The Globe and Mail declared “Moviegoing might have died” as a result of the move. Com-
panies like Netflix and Amazon are not primarily movie-makers — they are product-sellers. The way movies are made and distributed is bound to change. At the 2025 Time100 Summit, Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos was asked about his company’s intentions. Sarandos described Netflix as a “very consumer-focused company.” It aims to offer media without letting “a lot of outside forces get in the way.” Sarandos reasons that the purported inaccessibility of theatres makes them “an outmoded idea.” “If you’re fortunate enough to live in Manhattan, and you can walk to a multiplex and see a movie, that’s fantastic. Most of the country cannot.” Netflix’s accessibility is debatable, especially with its increasing subscription fees. And why does the existence of streaming render theatres outdated? Theatres and the cinematic experience are vital incentives for creating high-quality films. Their disappearance is likely to degrade movie quality, as theatrical screenings are not prioritized by the industry’s new producers. Continued on page 16
In her first point, the ball went through her hands. Now, she’s a first-team All-Canadian and national championship MVP.
SPORT & RECREATION // 6-7
Students gather for physics conference UBC hosted the annual Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics.
RESEARCH // 18
Course capacity issues? UBC implementing double decker desks.
HUMOUR // 19