![[Dreidel]](/1996/dec/dreidel.gif)
Daily Bulletin
University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Thursday, December 5, 1996
So, this evening we reach the first night of
Chanukah,
the Jewish festival that marks a long-ago
miracle and that now symbolizes religious tolerance for all. (The picture
at the top of this Bulletin, at least in the Web version? Why,
that's a dreidl, the little top with four Hebrew letters that's
the favoured toy for the eight days of Chanukah.)
And today, perhaps not by coincidence,
there's big news for the planned UW
chair in
Jewish studies.
A donation of $500,000
by developer Joseph Lebovic has pushed
the Jewish studies fund drive past $1 million and
close to the point of hiring someone to hold the chair,
a release from the university's news bureau says.
Paul Socken, chair of the French studies department and
head of the Jewish studies committee,
said the position should now be filled "within a
matter of months" once about $1.5 million is raised.
The goal for the chair, which will bear major donors'
names, is $2 million including research funds.
Lebovic, of Stouffville, Ontario, is also
co-chair of the campaign.
Former president of the Urban Development Institute (Canada)
and its Ontario division, he has made significant financial contributions to
the United Jewish Appeal and other charities.
In 1953,
Lebovic with his father and brother established Lebovic
Enterprises, which now has companies involved in
residential, commercial and industrial land development and construction,
primarily in the Toronto area.
UW's Jewish studies program will be different from
others in that it will be primarily for non-Jewish students; there are
plans to offer courses through the distance education program.
The chair will
focus on the impact of Judaism on world
history and religion and the relationship between Jewish culture and
Western civilization.
"To understand Christianity and the modern world, one needs to
understand the links between Jewish history and Christian culture," Socken
said. "To do religious studies without studying the faith that gave birth
to so many religions leaves a gap in one's understanding."
The fund drive was launched with a $200,000 contribution from Czech
Holocaust survivor Alexandre Raab, founder of White Rose Nurseries. Money
to assist with the program and visits of prominent scholars has come in
part from members of the Beth Jacob Congregation in Kitchener, of which
Socken is a former president.
Information about your pension
Today brings the first of several information sessions at which
individual staff and faculty members can find out more about their
pensions
and other benefits. "Personal Summary of Benefits" booklets were sent
out to everyone in recent weeks, and the idea is to bring the booklet
along to one of the meetings if you have questions, the human resources
department says.
Today's meeting runs from 12 noon to 1:30 in Engineering Lecture
room 207. Future meetings of the same kind: Friday from 9:30 to 11 p.m.
in Davis Centre 1302 (mostly for night custodial staff); next Monday from noon
to 1:30 in DC room 1304; Thursday, December 12, from 12 noon to
1:30 in St. Jerome's College room 221.
There's also the "annual community meeting" of the pension plan, set
for Tuesday, December 10, at 12:15 in Needles Hall room 3001.
Harassment case is reported
"An Ottawa woman has been charged with criminally harassing a male
University of Waterloo professor," the Kitchener-Waterloo
Record reported yesterday. "The harassment is alleged to have
happened over the past several years." I don't have any information
beyond what was said in the Record, but I sure will be
trying to get some.
Music in the great hall
The music
department's annual concert in the great hall of the Davis
Centre -- a space that's said to have acoustics not unlike those of
a romanesque cathedral -- will be happening at noontime today. The
ventilation fans and other background noise will be turned off,
platforms and chairs will be in place, and the choirs will be on
hand for a 45-minute concert beginning at 12:15. The program has a
Christmas flavour and "will include several concluding carols with
audience participation", says Leonard Enns, the music department's
chair.
Tonight, write an essay
The English Language Proficiency Examination will be
offered at 7:00 tonight in the main gym of the Physical
Activities complex -- think of it as the overture to the fall term
exam period, which starts tomorrow.
Hundreds of UW's students have to pass the ELPE as a graduation
requirement, and the number of students from
applied health sciences who face that particular hurdle
is being increased. "The current requirement is an OAC English course
or 50% on ELPE," explains Fran Allard, associate dean (undergraduate
studies) in AHS. "This has been changed to 80% on an OAC English
course or 70% on ELPE. This makes the AHS requirement similar to
what is asked by the other faculties." Indeed, it's marginally
higher: arts, for example, requires either an 80 mark on an OAC
("grade 13") English course or a 60 per cent score on the ELPE.
Happening today at Waterloo
The craft and toy sale sponsored by the Hildegard Marsden Co-operative
Day Nursery is continuing in the Davis Centre lounge . . . "holiday
specials" continue at the bookstore, and again there will be live
instrumental music in the South Campus Hall concourse from 12:30 to
1:30 . . . the high school student federal-provincial conference
is winding up in Modern Languages . . .
and more:
- The week of "developing responses to violence" continues with
workshops today in the Student Life Centre at 2:00 (Matt Erickson,
of UW's
ethical behaviour
and human rights office) and 3:30 (Keith Martin of counselling
services, speaking on anger management).
- The local branch of the
Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers presents a session on high-temperature
superconductivity -- projects from Electrical and Computer Engineering
779 -- from 2:00 to 4:30 today in Davis Centre room 2577.
Team is ready for glory
The Association for Computing Machinery has made its decision: one
Waterloo team, not two, will be taking part in the finals of its
high-powered programming competition, to be held in San Jose, California,
in March. Both UW entries had qualified at the east central regionals,
but it wasn't clear who would actually get into the finals. Coach
Gordon Cormack reports from the computer science department that
Team B is in; it's composed of Viet-Trung Luu, Wai Min Yee, and
Derek Kisman, with Michael Van Biesbrouck as alternate.
CAR