Issue #14: Winter/Spring 2006

Editor's Letter: Painted faces, reunions and not peeing on your hands

by Christopher Petty

In the 1999 movie,“The American President,” the beleaguered president comes under attack by the other party for his new girlfriend and his very liberal views. At one point the president watches a TV news clip of his adversary who says something like, “My opponent, with his very smart Princeton degree, might try applying some of what he’s learned to our present economic problems.” The president snaps the TV off with disdain and says, “I went to Stanford, you moron.”

Canadians understand the wry, slightly snobby humour because, being fed American culture from an early age, we know there’s some sort of pride-based alumni rivalry even among grads of the most exalted universities. We also understand that if we inserted “McGill,” and “UBC” in the above dialogue, most readers – Canadian or otherwise – would likely say, “Huh? I don’t get it.”

That sense of intense school pride filters down to many of the lesser US schools, too. My otherwise-staid brother-in-law, a contract lawyer, graduated from the University of Oregon in the 1970s. Guess who painted his face green and yellow to sit with 71,000 other screaming fans at the Holiday Bowl where the U of O Ducks played against the U of Oklahoma in San Diego on December 29? (The Ducks lost in a heart breaker, 17-14.)

So, why is it that such an expression of support from a UBC alumnus (or from an alumnus of any university in the country, for that matter) would be unlikely? The football T-Birds, even when they’re on a hot streak, rarely get enough fans to justify opening a concession stand. But it’s not just sports: My b-in-law rarely misses a reunion – he seems to go to one every few years – and every visit to the campus sounds like a pilgrimage to a religious shrine.
So here’s the question: What is it about Canadian universities that they don’t generate that kind of passion, that kind of pride?

Our newly formed Alumni Affairs team (made up of the Alumni Association and a university unit, Alumni Relations) is working hard to change that. We’re looking under the hoods of all our existing programs – from the Achievement Dinner and Regional Networks to this magazine – to see what we can do to make them all more attractive and more relevant to your life. We’re introducing a new website and e-networking system (TrekConnect) in the Spring that will open up new ways for you to communicate with old classmates and with the university. We also have a major building plan in the works, the Alumni Centre, which will become the place on campus that caters specifically to the needs of our alumni.

The point of all this new effort is to show you that UBC, as one of the most influential institutions of your life, is worthy of your interest, your involvement and your support.

Then, if we’re successful, maybe we could substitute, say, “McGill” and “UBC” into this very old joke: A Princeton grad and a Stanford grad are in a public washroom using the facilities. The Princeton grad finishes up and goes to the sink to wash his hands. The Stanford grad heads straight for the exit.

“At Princeton,” the fellow at the sink says grandly, “we learned to wash our hands after using the toilet.”

“At Stanford,” the other says as the exit door shuts, “we learned not to pee on our hands.”

And we’d all laugh knowingly. ¤

Chris Petty is the editor of Trek Magazine and the Communications Director of the University of British Columbia Alumni Association