Daily Bulletin

Monday, November 17, 1997

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Friday's Bulletin | Previous days | UWevents | UWinfo home page

Fourth, behind Simon Fraser

That's where Waterloo stands among Canada's "comprehensive" universities, according to the annual Maclean's magazine rankings, published this morning. In the category -- full-service universities without medical schools -- the magazine is ranking Simon Fraser University first for the second year in a row; Guelph second; Victoria third; UW fourth; and York fifth.

Among the factors that dropped UW from second last year to fourth this year is the calculation of "student services (percentage of budget)". Waterloo was fourth on that criterion last year, among 11 institutions, and this year is 11th out of 13. The reason, according to Bob Truman, director of institutional analysis and planning, is that Maclean's has decided UW can't count the $4 million budget of the co-op department as a "student service".

A separate "reputational" survey, measuring what business leaders and people in other universities think, puts Waterloo #1 in all categories: "quality", "innovative", "leaders of tomorrow", and "overall". It's a clean sweep -- Waterloo has ranked #1 in each of those categories every year since Maclean's began its present rating system in 1992.

There's more to the magazine's annual "Universities" issue, which hasn't actually hit campus yet but is expected later today. It'll be interesting what the lead articles have to say about Simon Fraser, maintaining its top rank in spite of administrative turmoil over the past year, and about the state of Canadian higher education in general. Ann Dowsett Johnston, managing editor for the magazine, was on CBC radio this morning saying that universities are "terribly underfunded" and that student debt, now estimated at $25,000 for the average new graduate, is a major problem.

But oh, what a great season

Power of the Gee-Gees

Waterloo's football Warriors were ahead 23-22 at the half, and the game went to the fourth quarter tied 37-37, but finally it was Ottawa's Gee-Gees, behind wide receiver Chris Evraire, who pulled out a 44-37 victory to take the Churchill Bowl in Ottawa on Saturday afternoon.

"The highlight was one of our guys being tackled by a horse," a fan was explaining to me this morning. "It was just an incredible game." The outcome puts the Gee-Gees in the Vanier Cup game this weekend against British Columbia, and sends the Warriors home disappointed even though they made it closer to a national championship than they'd ever been before.

Tuffy Knight's Warriors helped UW celebrate its 40th anniversary by bringing home UW's first Yates Cup, the Ontario championship, on November 8. That gave them the chance to play Ottawa, champions of the Ontario-Québec league, in the semifinal, played on a cold windy day at the stadium formerly known as Lansdowne Park.

From the Slam Sports report of the game:

Three of Ottawa's touchdowns came on punt returns -- Evraire from 97 and 37 yards and [Ousmane] Tounkara from 88 yards. . . . Tounkara -- Ottawa's Hec Crighton nominee -- scored twice and Ottawa twice added a two-point converts, while Doug Waters booted four converts. . . .
Jarrett Smith, Waterloo's star running back and Hec Crighton nominee as the CIAU's top player, scored two touchdowns along the ground, as did fullback Eddie Kim. Quarterback Ryan Wilkinson -- who rarely threw the ball -- also scored on a stunning 71-yard option, with Arek Bigos booting a field goal and four converts. . . .
The critical play of the [first] half came in the final seconds, when a Waterloo receiver bowled into the Gee-Gees mascot just inside the field of play at the Ottawa 34-yard-line. The Gee-Gees were penalized half the distance to the goal-line for having unauthorized personnel on the field, and Kim rumbled in 17 yards for the touchdown to put the Warriors ahead as the half ended.

Mac statement is under review

The announcement about "Macintosh directions and support", issued a few days ago to a barrage of complaint from Macintosh users who don't want the university to stop supporting their computers, is now "under review".

Jay Black, associate provost (information systems and technology), said Friday afternoon that the University Committee on IST had met in the morning: "UCIST has received substantial feedback on the statement. As a result, we are reviewing the intent and text of it with a view to modification and clarification, including stronger separation between strategic directions and support issues. UCIST welcomes continued feedback."

Making health and dental claims

With the postal service not too stable these days, the human resources department is making some special arrangements:

Dental and Extended Health Claims: Ask your dentist to submit your dental claim electronically to ManuLife Financial or by fax to (519) 883-5712. Prescription medications can be obtained using your pay-direct drug card. Extended Health claims cannot be submitted by fax as original receipts are required. Please send any other confidential claims (Dental claims addressed to ManuLife Financial; Health claims addressed to London Life) in an addressed, sealed envelope to Donna Howe, Human Resources, GSC. A temporary courier service has been arranged until the dispute is resolved. Reimbursement cheques for both plans will be sent weekly by courier to the University and distributed by Human Resources through the inter-campus mail.
Off Campus Pay Cheques: Pay cheques that are normally mailed to off campus addresses will be held and made available for pickup at the Human Resources department. All cheques that are not picked up will be mailed promptly when the postal dispute is resolved.
The above arrangements will stay in effect until the postal dispute is resolved.

Questions? Call Donna Howe, ext. 3134.

A week without violence

That's the idea for November 17-21: To draw attention to the harmful effects of violence, the Federation of Students is holding a Week Without Violence. Displays and information about violence will be available in the Student Life Centre during the week, as well as resources and contacts for people who need assistance.

The keynote speaker, tonight at 7:30, will be Steven Foster, a doctor who will describe his 20 years of treating landmine victims in Angola. The speech takes place in the Arts Lecture Hall room 116 and is co-sponsored by the Federation and the Physicians for Global Survival (Waterloo Chapter).

"As a symbol of the effects that violence has on all of us, we are asking students, staff and faculty to wear black on Thursday, November 20," says Heather Calder, the Feds' vice-president (student issues). "That day will be known as Black Thursday, commemorating all the people who have suffered from violence and protesting violence in general."

The talk of the campus

Christmas is coming, and here's a reminder that the end-of-the-year holiday period starts earlier this year than originally scheduled. As part of the salary settlements last spring, Tuesday, December 23, was made a holiday for both union and non-union staff, and so UW offices and most services will be closed. The last working day in 1997, then, is Monday, December 22, and it's back to work on Friday, January 2, 1998. (December 23 is not a holiday for faculty members.)

The pension and benefits committee is meeting this morning, to continue work on "pension plan improvements". Fred McCourt, president of the faculty association, sent an electronic memo around campus Friday afternoon, charging that what the committee was being asked to approve is "not equitable". He said two changes are involved -- one making the "normal" form of pension more generous, and the second reducing the amount that Canada Pension counts against individuals' pensions. "The second change is not equitable," McCourt wrote, "because it increases nearly everyone's pension by the same amount -- roughly $1250 per year for a person with 35 years of service". That's not fair, he said, because faculty members, with higher average salaries, have put more money into the pension fund over the years.

The United Way campaign on campus closed officially on Friday, with rather tepid receipts of $105,000 -- some 72.4 per cent of the year's target, $145,000. Campaign chair Helen Kilbride is putting a brave face on it: "$105,000 will do a great deal towards helping our friends and neighbours in their hour of need, but with $145,000 we could do so much more. Hold that thought and complete your form; it will be a good Christmas present to yourself. If you have mislaid your pledge package, just call ext. 3840 and we'll see that you get a replacement immediately."

I'm glad to announce that after several weeks' hiatus, news reports from the Gazette are once again available on the Web -- from the UWinfo home page, look under "News".

Events on a busy campus

Shadow Day takes place today and again tomorrow in the faculty of engineering -- "a chance," says organizer Sri Artham, "for high school students to shadow a current engineering student for the day. In addition to attending lectures and labs, students will be able to participate in seminars on admissions, co-op, and extracurricular activities."

Job posting #4 in the "continuous placement" process for winter term co-op jobs will be up at 12 noon today, the co-op department advises. Continuous job postings continue until November 27.

Montréal writer Robyn Sarah will read from her work at 3:30 this afternoon in the St.Jerome's College common room. Admission is free; the reading is sponsored by the college and The New Quarterly, with Canada Council support.

An information session about part-time studies at UW runs from 7 to 8:30 this evening at the distance and continuing education office, 156 Columbia Street. Staff members Don Kasta, Issy Mackay and Mary Jane Crusoe will present information for potential students; everyone's welcome.

The UW senate holds its monthly meeting at 7:30 this evening in Needles Hall room 3001. On the agenda: course changes, admission requirements, the 1998-99 academic calendar, rules about the Test of English as a Foreign Language for graduate students, faculty appointments, what's happening with the Council of Ontario Universities, and other reports and motions. In confidential session, the meeting is to hear a report from the nominating committee for a dean of applied health sciences.

UW's Centre for Applied Health Research is among the sponsors of a program tomorrow morning at Victoria Park Pavilion in Kitchener: a "mystery breakfast theatre" entitled "Who Killed the Health Care System?" plus a talk by Ottawa physician and health care advocate Andrew Pipe. More information: 884-6390 ext. 233.

The next seminar for the Faculty Computing User Support group, dubbed FACCUS, is on Tuesday November 18th, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in Math and Computer room 2009 (not 2099 as I managed to say on Friday). The seminar will be in the form of a "Technology/Service Show & Tell", with topics including "Statistics Consulting Service", "Update on Village Connectivity", "Digital Cameras", "CD ROM Interactive Multimedia Training", "Problem Tracking Systems" and "A Tool for Creating Documentation". All are welcome to attend, says Bob Hicks of the information systems and technology department.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY November 16, 1973: The Student Services Building is renamed Ira G. Needles Hall.

November 17, 1970: Radio Waterloo, later to be CKMS, begins cable broadcasting at 94.1 MHz (it's still not available on the airwaves). November 17, 1977: Kinesiology professor Don Hayes, former coach of the hockey Warriors, dies suddenly at age 42.

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
Comments to the editor | About the Bulletin | Friday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1997 University of Waterloo