People facing barriers to post-secondary education don’t fit a demographical norm, which explains the diversity of students that have participated in the five years of UVic’s University 101 program.

These days, few raise an eyebrow at a woman on a varsity team doing a lay-up, or a man on a varsity team sending a perfect cross into the penalty area. Say rower or swimmer and no gender pops into your head. But say field hockey or rugby, and that’s not the case.

Scottish history and influence in Victoria will be celebrated as part of the Tartan Week Celebrations from April 2 to 9. Events around town throughout the week will give people an excuse to embrace their inner Scot.

UVic golfers are gearing up for their post-seasons with upcoming national championships on both sides of the border.

After going through a few different incarnations, Handsome Distraction is finally settled and ready to focus on taking their music to the next level.

Going out for lunch usually just fills you up. But on Thursday, March 24 it’s also a way to help provide Victoria-area residents living with HIV and AIDS with a nutritious meal.

A UVic PhD candidate is hoping nitrogen levels in tree rings will provide researchers with clues on the history — and future — of seabirds.

I don’t remember getting my first concussion; or much of the 48 hours immediately after.

For 14 hours, some of Canada’s poor and homeless spoke to other Canadians as part of the ninth annual Canadian Homelessness Marathon on Feb. 23 and 24. Put on by McGill’s campus community radio station CKUT, the marathon puts radio programming into the hands of society’s most marginalized citizens.

It took five years for 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Ryan Cochrane to finally swim for the Vikes, but it was worth the wait.

In the 2009 film Pirate Radio, pirate radio was all about getting pop music on UK airwaves in the 1960s, and the radio hosts were all about sex, drugs and rock and roll. But Islands of Resistance: Pirate Radio in Canada, a book of essays published by New Star Books in 2010, shows that “electromagnetic deviance” can be about much more than just good times.

Sending half a shoebox into space could allow a team of UVic students to accomplish some firsts in the Canadian space industry. But to do that, they need to beat out 12 other student groups from universities across Canada participating in the first-ever Canadian Satellite Design Challenge (CSDC).

Food security affects anyone who eats.

As a province, B.C. imports more than half of its food. Canada as a whole imported about $24 billion worth of food in 2007. And when you live on one of the small Gulf Islands between Victoria and Vancouver, just about all your food comes from somewhere else. A report recently released by the Islands Trust recognizes this and wants local food production to be considered when determining land use priorities.

The best thing I can say about my first curling performance is that I didn’t bail. I joined the UVic curling club for their weekly Sunday night session at the Victoria Curling Club, intending to talk about the upcoming Canadian Interuniversity Sports (CIS) Regional Qualifying tournament being held in Edmonton from Feb. 18 to 20. And I did that. But I also ended up throwing my first rocks.

Alcohol is a social paradox. You cheers to health, yet B.C. records 2,000 alcohol-related deaths every year. Allowing responsible use while minimizing social harms is a balance societies have been struggling to strike for centuries.

Being a leader means many things. You make sacrifices, both physically and emotionally. You inspire and elevate those around you. And you set an example for those following you. Three-year Vikes field hockey captain Perri Espeseth did all this and more in her five-year varsity career.

Canadian Internet users just got screwed. That’s the sentiment among Internet advocacy groups after a Jan. 25 ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that allows major Internet service providers (ISPs) to implement usage-based billing to their wholesale customers.

Many university students live a hectic life, with their finite time stretched and pulled between a wide variety of duties and obligations. Between the stresses of term papers, cramming for midterms, part-time jobs and trying to have a social life, finding balance is difficult. Within all this chaos, meditation can provide an invaluable moment of calm.

The UVic tennis club will host the fifth annual UVic Invitational Tennis Tournament, starting on Feb. 4. The two-day event involves 16 teams representing eight universities from B.C., Alberta, Washington and Oregon.

Should bottled water continue to be sold on campus? A petition being circulated by the University of Victoria Sustainability Project (UVSP) wants to pose this question to the student body in a non-binding referendum during the March UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) elections.