Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Monday, February 26, 1996

Civil service on strike

The strike by Ontario civil servants, which began this morning, won't have much immediate effect on the university. There may be people here and there who depend on particular government offices for information and services, says UW president James Downey, but he's not aware of major operations that will be disrupted.

Managers are at work in the Ontario Student Awards Program offices in Thunder Bay, and the computer system is up, says Charlene Shaw in UW's student awards office. "We're in pretty good shape," she said, because staff foresaw the possibility of a strike and made "a big push" to get documents processed earlier this month. The only students affected immediately will be some who have appealed the level of their OSAP award for this term -- the Thunder Bay office was already running about two months behind on processing appeals -- and a few who, having applied late, haven't yet received the second installment of their winter term money.

There are 60-some co-op students working for the Ontario government this term; exactly what happens to them, if staff walk out from the departments where they're working is yet to be seen. The UW co-op department is expected to issue a statement soon about the position of co-op students who get caught in labour disputes.

Seeking positions on board

There are six candidates for a seat on the UW board of governors representing staff members. The seat is currently held by Helena Hahn of the dean of science office, whose term ends April 30. (A second staff representative on the board is held by Barry Scott of the research office, whose term is continuing.)

Statements from the six candidates will appear in this week's Gazette and can be seen on UWinfo under "Departments", then "Secretariat". Ballots will be mailed out this week, and voting closes March 13.

The six candidates:

Sharon Adams, school of urban and regional planning, a former president of the staff association.
Judy Awbury, assistant registrar for mathematics and science, a facilitator for the "Working" program and member of the staff grievance committee.
Lorraine Beattie, coordinator of resources management in the UW library, former adjunct professor in philosophy, freelance consultant.
Michele Grondin, staff member in the food services central office.
Pat Mihm, metal-worker in plant operations, who previously held a staff seat on the board of governors.
John Sellens, staff member in data processing, last year's president of the FASS theatre company.

Making the sun shine in

Plans are really taking off for Sun Shine Day this Thursday, says Nancy Elash here in the information and public affairs office. For example: the purchasing department has Beach Boys tapes at the ready; Conrad Grebel College is planning an "all-college coffee break" on Thursday morning; keeners in the department of electrical and computer engineering say they're going to take blankets outside for a noon-hour picnic.

Elash (nelash@nh3adm, phone ext. 2220) would still like to hear from departments and groups with sunny plans for Leap Year Day.

Hockey Warriors triumph

On Saturday night the Warrior hockey team beat Windsor 4-1, to take the best-of-three division series 2 games to 0. The Warriors now have a few days off, and will face Laurentian on Saturday night in the first game of the OUAA championship series. The game will be hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University.

Review of co-op fees

The "co-op fee review committee" held its first meeting at the end of last week. Purpose of the committee: "to review the structure of the co-op fee, understanding that the fee must continue to cover the costs of the Co-operative Education Department".

The fee, currently $411 a term, is paid by all co-op students. There have been criticisms that a single fee is unfair in an environment where some students find their own jobs, some need intensive help from co-op staff, and some don't get jobs at all and wonder why they have to pay.

The review committee will advise the provost on possible changes. It includes three students, the director of co-op education and one coordinator from that department, a faculty member, and a resource person from the institutional analysis and planning office; it's chaired by Robin Banks, associate provost (academic affairs).

Talking today about sculpture

Editt Davidovici, who will graduate from UW's independent studies this spring, left her thesis work behind in Italy when she came home this winter. It's a sculpture, "Essence", created last summer in the coastal village of Pietrasanta in Tuscany. Before she heads back to Italy in a few days, Davidovici will give a talk today about her art and about finding inspiration in that little town. The talk starts at 12:30 p.m. in room 133 of St. Jerome's College.

Also speaking today:

John North of the English department, at the Kitchener Public Library at noon. Topic: "Why Adults Read Children's Literature".
Stephen Ward, a UW graduate who is Canadian Press bureau chief in Vancouver, on "The Liberally Educated Journalist", at 3:30 p.m. in Humanities room 334.

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

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