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Apply to be our Local History Columnist

Many of the stories in The Ubyssey’s report will feel familiar to previous generations of students, staff, and faculty at our university. Among other things, we are not the first to have conversations about tuition, divestment, environmental stewardship, settler-indigenous relations, and degree requirements. What are the histories of those conversations? What can we learn from previous generations about the issues that we face today? Making use of archives — especially those of The Ubyssey and UBC — we want a Local History Columnist (a working title) to write about exactly this in Opinion from March 2026 through to April 2027.

Columnists are opinion journalists who regularly write their views on the news for a publication. We'll provide the journalism training.

What we are looking for

Our Local History Columnist will write twice a month (and once a month during the summer). To get a sense of the degree of focus and specificity expected of columns, take a look at our three current columns, Point of Inquiry, Close Up, and Powers that Be. You should also look at Ezra Klein at the New York Times, Killian Crawford at The Tyee, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò at the Boston Review, Althia Raj or Ubyssey alumnus Bruce Arthur at the Toronto Star, Tanya Talaga, André Picard, or Andrew Coyne at the Globe and Mail, or Michelle Cyca or David Moscrop at The Walrus.

We especially welcome and encourage applications from members of marginalized communities.

What we are not looking for

Wanting to "break down," or "explain," or "raise awareness" in an "accessible" way about a topic is not sufficient grounds to make someone a columnist. Columns should consistently offer our readers courses of action or original interpretations of the news in addition to being written for a general audience.

Why you should do this

We do this work because we enjoy serving our community and learning in the company of other passionate people.

All participants get access to The Ubyssey's office as a workspace during the day, as well as food and beverage snacks supplied for our team. Because the products of your services are published, any editorial position at The Ubyssey increases your online presence. Many of us also find that doing journalism makes school easier, specifically with writing, researching, and generating genuinely interesting essay ideas for classes. Additionally, your supervising editor will generally be happy to serve as a reference for future applications. All the skills we develop are transferable to other opportunities.

All team members receive an orientation that introduces them to the basics of journalism, as well as weekly, formalized, ongoing training at the Opinion section meeting from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

The Ubyssey is a chance to see how the world works up close. Every year, we cover critical moments in people's athletic careers, interview people at the leading edge of their fields, monitor the movement of billions of dollars between and within our institution and more that contributes to the first draft of history.

Processing this application

Your privacy is important to us. The information we collect using this form will only be used by and disclosed to relevant editors to process your application. If you are selected, when we meet you in person, we'll ask to see your UBC Student Card to verify your identity, but we will not be collecting that information here. Artificial intelligence will not be used in processing your application in any way, and all decisions will be made by our team of real people.

We will consider applications on a rolling basis until March 16. If you have any questions about this application, please email Opinion Editor and Deputy Managing Editor Spencer Izen at opinion@ubyssey.ca and Managing Editor Saumya Kamra at managing@ubyssey.ca

Personal

What is your full name?

What is your preferred name?

What is your email address?

How long have you attended UBC for?

What are you studying or intending to study?

Qualifications

For the following questions, please upload a PDF copy of your answers.

Question 1: Please tell us why you're interested in joining The Ubyssey as a columnist, and about any experiences that might be relevant to doing journalism with us. Be sure to tell us why these are relevant, too.

Question 2: Columnists need to be able to offer an insightful, timely analysis of current affairs on a routine basis (twice a month, unless you and the opinion editor decide otherwise). To demonstrate your capacity to do this, please write three pitches for articles you could write for your column, relevant in the current moment. Each pitch should tell us what your thesis is and be about 100-200 words each. Please

Question 3: Please tell us about yourself as a news/media reader, listener, or watcher. How do you encounter news within the scope of what your prospective column would be about?

Question 4: Please fact-check this statement, and explain your thinking and the steps you took to do so: The number of international students with active study permits in Canada in 2023 was 1,040,985.