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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Monday, January 22, 1996

The fast of Ramadan begins

Today is the first day of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, which many UW students, faculty and staff will be observing. From dawn to sunset every day this month, "Muslims will abstain from food and drink and try to restrain evil intentions and desires," explains Nabil Rehman of the Muslim Students' Association.

Says a writer about Ramadan on the World Wide Web:

In Ramdahan, fasting from food, water and sex sets a context within which I can try to establish God's presence in my life. I also know that we are not supposed to only fast from food, drinks and sex, but from all lust, all hypocrisy, all lies, all dishonesty, all backbiting and all evil. To my surprise, I am able to achieve that to some extent. I can carry that for some months. I think it is like the fourth or fifth month after Ramadhan that it starts to slacken.

At UW, the Muslim Students' Association is planning many events for the month, starting with several potluck dinners to observe the breaking of the fast, according to MSA president Asif Alli. The first of those dinners, known as iftaars, takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, starting at 4:30 p.. in Math and Computer room 4040. For more information, Alli can be reached at 747-9338 or aalli@undergrad.math.

Senate seats to be filled

There are 16 seats for faculty members, and two for graduate students, to be filled on UW's senate in elections this spring. (That's in addition to five seats for undergraduate students, which have already been announced.)

To be filled by faculty members are seven at-large seats; one seat from each of the six faculties; one from Renison College; one from St. Jerome's College; and a second seat from applied health sciences, to be filled for one year because of a vacancy. Normal terms are for three years. To be filled by graduate students are two regular seats, each for a two-year term.

Nominations close February 7. Full information is available on the university secretariat pages on UWinfo, or in this week's Gazette.

Agenda for the faculty association

An agenda is now available for the general meeting of the faculty association of UW to be held this Wednesday. Time: 4 p.m. Place: Physics room 145.

Most of the meeting is to be held in confidential session to discuss steps toward union certification for the faculty association under the Ontario Labour Relations Act. Text of the motion to be voted on:

that the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo proceed to obtain membership cards and apply to the Ontario Labour Relations Board for certification.

And also from the agenda:

Q. If the motion under Agenda Item 2 is passed, does this mean that the Faculty Association can become a certified Association without any further input from me?
A. No. This motion is an enabling motion which allows us to collect cards and, if enough are collected, to apply to the Labour Relations Board for certification. If enough are collected the Ontario Labour Relations Board will order a vote. The Labour Relations Board will conduct the vote and it will be a secret ballot vote in which each individual who would be a member of the proposed bargaining unit is eligible to vote. The Labour Relations Board will certify the Association only if a majority of those voting vote in favour.

Staff needed for committees

Sharon Lamont, past president of the staff association, sends word that staff representatives are needed for two UW committees:

The Dean of Environmental Studies search committee -- the staff representative "preferably" to come from somewhere in ES.
The Employee Assistance Program committee.

Interested? Send "name, department, extension, email address, years of service at UW, any relevant experience, and indicate why you wish to represent staff on this particular committee" to Lamont in the Davis Centre library (sljlamon@library) by February 1. There's fuller information on the staff association Web pages through UWinfo, and in this week's Gazette.

Teaching event from Guelph

The teaching resource office sends word of a videolinked session tomorrow about "Developing Course Content for Interactive CD-ROM". It's being led by John Mitterer, a Brock University professor who has developed several CD-ROMs for textbook publishers. The event starts at 1 p.m., with the UW site for the event being Chemistry 2 room 278. Jo-Anne Willment in teaching resources can provide more information.

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

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