Daily Bulletin

Thursday, October 24, 1996

On United Nations Day

• The joint health and safety committee is meeting at 10:30 this morning in Student Life Centre room 2134. On the agenda: bicycle safety and reports on accidents and fire alarms during September.
• The Pragma Council, a group of alumni and other professionals that advises UW's school of urban and regional planning, begins its fall conference today with a talk by David Good, assistant deputy minister in the Ontario department of human resource development. Theme of the two-day conference is "The Changing Role of the Federal Government: Implications for Provincial and Local Governments".
• The student newspaper Imprint has announced the photographic exhibit "Camera Obscura" in the Student Life Centre's multi-purpose room today and Friday. Says editor Sandy Atwal: "Comprising images over the past thirty years from the photo files of Imprint and its predecessor The Chevron, the exhibit should be of interest to both students and alumni alike. Focusing on news, sports, arts and campus life, most of the photographs on display have never been previously published. The exhibit can also be viewed via Imprint's website at http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca.
• The "Real Life Road Show" -- in a 36-foot tractor-trailer -- brings Hewlett Packard computing products to campus today, sponsored by the Computer Store. Parked on the north side of the Math and Computer building, it'll be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• The conference on workplace ergonomics, hosted by the kinesiology department, continues at the Four Points Hotel. Yes, the Bulletin yesterday said it was a one-day event, but in fact it's continuing through Saturday.
• Also continuing through Saturday is the drama department's production of "Salt Water Moon".

Science, yes, but cookery?

"Demonstrating the electrical and structural properties of various foods, we plan dramatic and eye-catching hands-on activities," says UW's Peter Russell. "No mirrors -- just smoke and magic. Where else can young scientists eat their laboratory?" The event will include ghostly glowing electro-pickles, hands-on cryogenics, crisp salads in a snap and will answer that cool scientific question: How many students can be supported on a tower of cooked spaghetti before it collapses?

Toronto prepares for strike

The city is expecting traffic chaos and plenty of disruption to daily life and business, although public institutions are the main targets of protesters. That includes the universities. At the University of Toronto -- whose St. George campus actually surrounds Queen's Park, home of the provincial government -- demonstrations will be starting at 6:30 a.m. tomorrow, organizers say, at the Robarts Library, Sidney Smith Hall, Simcoe Hall, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. A major "education rally" starts at 1 p.m. at the corner of Bay and Wellesley Streets not far from U of T. Supporting that part of the protest are the U of T staff association and the Canadian Union of Public Employees local representing some U of T staff. The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations is also backing the day's protest in general.

A memorandum to administrators from U of T's acting provost, Carolyn Tuohy, asked them to be "flexible" with people who take time off work or away from their studies to join the protest. "Given the serious implications of these funding reductions for Ontario universities," she wrote, "we believe that members of the university who wish to participate should be accommodated in so far as possible." In particular, there should be no academic penalty on students who don't show up for class, write exams or hand in assignments Friday. Staff can take the day off as vacation or unpaid leave, by arrangement with their supervisors in advance. Tuohy said the university is showing that flexibility not to support the protest but to allow "a full expression of views on matters of great importance to the future of the University".

"It could be like a major snowstorm in terms of disruption, so I don't think the university will be able to go about its business anyway," says David Clandfield, principal of U of T's New College, as quoted in the student newspaper, The Varsity. U of T president Robert Prichard told The Varsity that he won't be taking part in the protest himself. "I will continue to do everything to the limits of my ability to achieve strong public funding . . . that is what I do every day, and I will continue to do on October 25."

Prepared for anything

The Chronicle, Wednesday, 25th September 1996. (It's the student newspaper here at the University Of St. Andrews.)

In an article by Justin Young, p. 7: '...It puts me in mind of a friend of mine (I promise you this is true) who telephoned the university during vacation once and managed to get a recorded message which said "If you would like to leave a message, press '1'. Alternatively, if you would like to donate a body to the university, please press '2'."'

Just a few more things

Project Ploughshares holds a 20th anniversary conference this evening (8 p.m.) in the great hall of Conrad Grebel College. John English, Member of Parliament for Kitchener, is the guest speaker, on "Demilitarization and Peace-Building: The Challenge for Canada".

The school of architecture's Arriscraft Lecture series continues, with Ernst Giselbrecht speaking tonight at 8 in the "green room" of Environmental Studies II.

The teaching resource office presents a workshop for teaching assistants tomorrow, under the title "Issues in Grading: Consistency, Subjectivity, and Student Complaints". Three faculty members will comment on "videotaped critical incidents that portray issues in marking", and group discussion will follow. The workshop runs from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Friday in Engineering I room 3516. Information and preregistration: ext. 3132.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004 Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin | yesterday's Bulletin Copyright 1996 University of Waterloo