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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Thursday, April 18, 1996

Tomorrow's the day of protest

Estimates of how many people will hit the streets tomorrow for the "Community Action Day" keep going up. Originally organizers hinted at 10,000; yesterday, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record said its poll suggested there could be 40,000. Perhaps a couple of thousand of those will be starting their day at UW, for a rally in the arts quadrangle about the state of education, and especially education funding, in Ontario.

The protest day as a whole is directed against all aspects of the social policies of Ontario's Progressive Conservative government, headed by premier Mike Harris. The major event is a march from Erb Street in Waterloo to downtown Kitchener, with a 12:30 rally in front of city hall.

Of course, not everybody tries to influence the government in the same way. Jane Pak, president of the Federation of Students, says the Feds haven't endorsed the day of protest. But she and a couple of other Fed leaders will be meeting tomorrow with Elizabeth Witmer, Waterloo's MPP and the Ontario minister of labour, to "discuss some of the key issues" around post-secondary education.

Campus picketing is expected

Though it's now supported by many "community", social action, church and other groups, the protest day started as a one-day strike organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour, and union pickets aimed at shutting down workplaces are a major feature of the day. Organizers originally said UW would see only token pickets at the University Avenue entrance to campus.

But UW police chief Al MacKenzie said yesterday he now understands there will be pickets at all the campus entrances -- as many as seven roadways and parking lots. ("This still is very fluid," he added.) As a result, people coming to campus tomorrow can definitely expect to be delayed, although picket organizers have said they will be "friendly" and won't "prevent" people coming to work. The university is officially open on Friday, though examinations have been cancelled.

The police chief said several parking lots will be wide open, to make it easier for people to avoid traffic jams and confrontations. In particular, lots N, R and L, at the Columbia Street end of campus, will be open for anyone who wants to park there tomorrow. MacKenzie repeated his warning that things are "fluid" -- there's no real way to know where crowds, pickets or confusion might be until things get going tomorrow.

Employees are expected to come to work tomorrow unless they've booked vacation time or made other arrangements, the provost said in a memo two weeks ago. However, university officials are also saying that people shouldn't put themselves in a situation they feel is dangerous. If you can't get to work, you should phone in.

The police chief's advice to anyone coming to campus on Friday: "Be patient, be tolerant, and let's get through the day without any incidents." (And, please, pass that word along to anyone who may not have a chance to read this Daily Bulletin.)

Rally in the arts quad

Not just people from UW, but some hundreds of schoolteachers, and busloads of supporters from Conestoga College and as far away as Toronto, are expected for the morning rally in front of the Dana Porter Library.

Plans are for music to start around 9:00 and speeches around 10. At 10:15, rally participants head off campus, following a circuitous route past Modern Languages, along the ring road and over the railway tracks down University Avenue. They'll link up with other protesters for the big march to Kitchener.

"We're going to block off Ring Road at around 10:00," police chief MacKenzie said. He expects the roadway to be closed for about half an hour, from parking lot B1 past the University Avenue entrance around past Modern Languages to the area of the Student Life Centre.

Off-campus visitors and rally participants will be using parking lot C off University Avenue; it too will be wide open to all comers tomorrow. "What we're going to do," MacKenzie said, "is accommodate them as best we can."

He repeats his message: keep calm, expect delays and frustrations, don't do dangerous things, and don't put yourself in a situation that you feel is threatening.

It's a busy Thursday

Meanwhile, today is the second (and last) day of voting for faculty members, librarians and instructors, under the supervision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, on whether they want to be represented by the UW faculty association as a union. Polls in Modern Languages and the Davis Centre are open from 9 to 12, 1 to 4, and 5 to 7.

Also: exams continue. Tonight's the big on-campus party at Wilfrid Laurier University that will (so student leaders, university officials and the police hope) replace the Ezra Avenue street party of previous years. And spring may be here at last.

I had a note from Bulletin reader Lew Brubacher in the chemistry department, after my grumble yesterday about the mid-April snow flurries. He writes:

It's not that unusual to have snow in late Spring, is it? I recall losing half our roof shingles in a wind storm on April 30, 1984, and the next day, May 1, 1984, the roofers had to contend with much more snow than we had last night. I will grant you that this winter was colder than last winter (my gas bill's degree days comparison tells me that), but although this April has been rather cold, I doubt that it is extremely unusual. Having lived in several communities in four countries as an adult, I can tell you that people everywhere tend to view their weather as unusual most of the time. We just have short memories.

Reliving a little history

An exhibition of memorabilia from UW's early days can be seen through April and May at the Dana Porter Library (see more about it on page 5 of yesterday's Gazette). There will be a "special viewing" of the exhibit at 4:00 this afternoon, to honour Marjorie Barber, who donated much of the rare material in the exhibition. She is the widow of Bert Barber, pioneering director of the UW co-op department, and her treasure trove includes not just souvenirs of Barber's own career but early photos, clippings and other items that trace UW's founding and early growth. It's easy to forget what mavericks Gerry Hagey and Ira Needles were in 1957, when the world said co-op would never work!

Other things happening today

Briefly, before this Bulletin gets completely out of hand:

Don't forget to RSVP

Organizers are still figuring out how many people to expect at Federation Hall next Thursday afternoon for the big party honouring 338 people who are taking early retirement this year. RSVPs are to be directed to department secretaries, and the president's office is asking that secretaries report the total numbers to them (president@uwaterloo.ca, or phone ext. 2203) by tomorrow.

Chris Redmond -- credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004

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