Daily Bulletin

Earlier deadline for registration

"It's the first step in reducing our dependence on the gym-style registration process," says registrar Ken Lavigne.

The new procedures apply to "all graduate and undergraduate students who are not enrolled full time in full cost recovery programs", and have been approved by the advisory committee on student fees and by the provost, he said.

First of all, the deadlines: fees have to be paid or "arranged" for the fall term by September 4; for the winter term, December 23; for the spring term, April 30; for the 1999 summer session, by June 30.

Says Lavigne:

Undergraduate students who have preregistered for fall term will receive a fee statement during the week of June 23 and can mail payment. Those undergraduate students who pay before August 20 will receive their receipt and appropriate validation stickers by return mail. Receipts for undergraduates who submit payments after August 20 will be available on campus for pick up.

Late fees will not be waived for those who delay selecting courses until September.

Graduate students will receive a registration form and fee statement during the week of August 4 and can mail payment. Receipts and validation stickers will be returned by mail for part time and full time off campus graduate students and sent to the academic department for full time on campus graduate students.

The university will accept and receipt post dated cheques dated no later than September 4 throughout the summer. A copy of the OSAP Student Information Document or a copy of the letter confirming a scholarship, RA or TA are acceptable for a fee arrangement and can be used to arrange fees by mail.

Students must pay fees or make suitable fee payment arrangements by the following "final registration dates": September 30 for the fall term, January 29 for the winter, May 31 for the spring, July 31 for summer 1999 courses. "Students not registered by the final registration deadline will be dropped from classes."

Finally, the registrar notes that "An increased withdrawal service charge of $50 will be applied to all students who withdraw during the first three weeks of term."

About that salary increase

• Effective May 1, 1998, the salary mid-points for regular, non-union staff members be adjusted upward by 1.0%.
• Effective May 1, 1998, the merit program be run for regular, non-union staff members and merit funds be distributed based on the staff member's performance and position in the range and according to the stated performance goals of the salary program.
• In order to recognize and reward meritorious performance and to recognize the major contributions of staff in easing the post-SERP transition, a special fund, equivalent to 1.0% of the staff salary budget as at January 1, 1998 be set aside for distribution to regular, non-union staff members according to the following parameters:
  • all performance ratings, greater than or equal to 3.0, will be tallied and divided into the value of the special fund to arrive at a unit value;
  • special increments will be awarded as a salary increase by multiplying the unit value by the performance rating where the rating is at least 3.0 or where the individual's salary grade is not exceeded.
  Note: The Committee agreed that an individual returning from LTD will be entitled to receive this special increase based on her/his previous year's rating. With respect to new hires, the norm should be that staff members must have been at UW prior to January 1, 1998 in order to be eligible for the special increase.
  The Committee recognizes that this exercise will move some people beyond their performance goals, but in light of the very positive impact of this special, one-time increase exercise on staff at large, the Committee fully endorsed this recommendation.
• The provision for staff members who are no more than three years from retirement (normal or by agreement with the University) to substitute one week of vacation for a 2.0% salary increase will continue until April 30, 2004.
• Note: It is understood that the Staff Training & Development Fund will continue at the present funding level ($115,720), but will not appear as a staff compensation benefit given that it has been regularly included in the Human Resources operating budget. The expenditures from this Fund will continue to be monitored by the Staff Training & Development Committee, a subcommittee of the Staff Relations Committee.

News on a slow cold Thursday

Conrad Grebel College will host Elderhostel sessions again this summer, June 7-13 and August 9-15. Such non-credit courses as "Flora and Fauna, the Wild Side of Waterloo Region", "The History and Craft of Oral Storytelling", and "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Cover-up or Archaeological Discovery of the Century?" will be offered to Elderhostel participants, who are retired or approaching retirement age. More information: Cheri Otterbein, 885-0220 ext. 297.

Faculties are choosing their valedictorians to speak on behalf of the graduating class at next month's convocation ceremonies. First to be announced is Duncan McIntyre, graduating from the science teaching option and honours physics, who will be valedictorian on the afternoon science students receive their degrees.

I'd better correct a little anachronism that crept into yesterday's Bulletin. I wrote, about pension plan premiums, that

There had already been one reduction, for three years that began in May 1997, which took premiums to half their previous level, and for the previous year they will be halved again (that is, they'll be 25 per cent of the regular premium).

About this Bulletin, by the way: I'd appreciate hearing from people who print off each day's Bulletin on paper to hang up on a physical bulletin board somewhere on campus. I know it happens here and there, but would like to be aware of all the places that's done, as we continue to try to estimate how many people have the opportunity to see the Bulletin each day.

Good Friday and Easter weekend

And it's Pesach (Passover) as well, with seders Friday and Saturday night.

• Maundy Thursday (tonight), 7 p.m., Holy Communion and Foot-Washing, St. Bede's Chapel at Renison; Mass, 8 p.m., Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's.
• Good Friday, 10:30 a.m., Devotions on the Seven Words from the Cross, at Renison; Family Service, 1 p.m., St. Jerome's; Community Service, 3 p.m., St. Jerome's.
• Saturday, 7 p.m., Easter Vigil and Holy Communion, Renison, with a potluck social to follow; Easter Vigil, 8 p.m., St. Jerome's (no 5 p.m. Mass).
• Sunday, 10:30 a.m., Holy Communion, Renison; 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Mass, St. Jerome's (no 7 p.m. Mass this week).

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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