September 13, 2002

Friday, September 13, 2002

Johnston notes Microsoft 'mistakes'
Memorandum of Understanding is issued
SLC's where the action is
Friday the 13th, and beyond

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

Johnston notes Microsoft 'mistakes'

David Johnston, president of the university, said last night that "mistakes" were made when UW's agreement with Microsoft Canada was settled in a rush and announced in mid-August at a time when key people were away from campus.

"In retrospect, we did not ensure that there were all the necessary sign-offs," Johnston told about 125 people attending an "open forum" on the Microsoft issue sponsored by the Engineering Society.

[On a Tablet] With him at the front of the room were the two people who took the key roles in arranging the Microsoft agreement: Tony Vannelli, chair of the electrical and computer engineering department, and Vic DiCiccio, director of the Institute for Computer Research. But Johnston was the one who publicly signed the deal (right).

Last night he called the announcement "a mistake for which I take the responsibility. . . . I should not have announced the agreement in principle. The necessary consultation with curriculum committees and faculties had not been had, should have been had, and will now be had."

Curriculum is the controversial part of the Microsoft deal, and accounts for $561,000 of the $2.3 million total. While the rest of the funding is for two research projects (one on Tablet hand-held PCs and one on web-based software for engineering labs), the $561,000 is meant to support the introduction of Microsoft's C# as a programming language for engineering students.

That idea, and the allegation that Microsoft was "buying" its way into UW classrooms, led to a firestorm of protest as soon as the agreement was announced in mid-August. At yesterday's meeting, while some questioners wanted to know about UW's reputation and what went wrong in the decision-making processes, others were more interested in the details of Electrical and Computer Engineering 150, the main course in which it's proposed that C# will be used.

Johnston, Vannelli and dean of engineering Sujeet Chaudhuri all repeated that the proposed use of C# is now before the E&CE curriculum committee and other decision-making bodies. In answer to various specific questions about languages, they promised that those were exactly the sorts of issues the curriculum committee would consider.

The president and the dean both said that the issue will end up before UW's senate, even though the details of what programming language is used in a single course wouldn't, in normal times, need that level of university approval.

The president and other speakers last night also stressed that while C# is under discussion, the other parts of the $2.3 million agreement are going ahead.

Memorandum of Understanding is issued

UW last night made public a brief "Memorandum of Understanding" with Microsoft Canada that outlines the $2.3 million Waterloo expects to receive from the Microsoft Alliance program. And it makes two things clear:

UW has a year to go through formal decision-making processes about the use of C# in electrical and computer engineering and let Microsoft know whether that project is going ahead.
Delay or cancellation of one part of the agreement, such as the use of C#, doesn't affect the other parts, which will go ahead regardless.

The memorandum, which "describes the actions that Microsoft and UW intend to take in relation to the provision of funding by Microsoft to UW", is dated Wednesday, and serves to clarify the agreement that was announced in August -- now being described as an agreement in principle.

It makes clear that the university and the company are talking about the adoption of C# as a tool both for first-year E&CE students and, through a non-credit "outreach initiative", for students applying to engineering programs.

It also provides a quick summary of the other two key parts of the Microsoft Alliance program:

"Microsoft and UW have been discussing the basis on which Microsoft will provide to UW, over a five year period, $490,000 in funding for education solutions to facilitate the delivery of online laboratory components of 8 E&CE courses. UW staff and faculty members intend to devise ways to provide an education solution for E&CE students so that they may have remote access to lab equipment and lab simulators through the .NET platform. This will augment the current experience, in which students practice the concepts of electronic and digital circuitry by physically working in the lab. . . .

"Microsoft and UW have been discussing the basis on which Microsoft will provide to UW, over a five year period, $758,000 in funding for Tablet PC research. A new team of UW researchers intend to collaborate to develop a pen-based mathematics recognition engine manipulation interface engine to enable Microsoft's Tablet PC to recognize, compute and enter, manipulate, and interact with complex formulae."

SLC's where the action is

Nothin' to do at Waterloo on a Friday night? Not any more, if Heather FitzGerald gets her way.

FitzGerald (below), who's based in Needles Hall as UW's student life coordinator, has just about recovered from the long days and nights of orientation, and today she launches a program of monthly "Warrior Weekends", organized with support from the Federation of Students and a volunteer committee.

[FitzGerald] "It's just to give people something to do," she explains. "Not all students want to go to the bars, or are able to go to the bars. You can sit in your residence room, or . . ."

[WW logo] Or you can scurry down to the Student Life Centre tonight, for breakdancing, games, music, comedy and even a little culture. Although the event is billed as a "Weekend", it's really a one-evening project, with things happening at various times from 7:00 until way after midnight. (The exception: a big-screen movie showing on Saturday night, title to be announced.)

Something called "By Divine Right" will play in the Bombshelter pub; there's unlimited gaming in the Campus Cove from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. for $7 for first-year students and $10 for others; a tournament of more traditional games (risk, chess, checkers, cards) is planned; snacks are planned at 9:00 and 11:30.

Theatre on the Edge will visit campus to do an improv comedy performance at 9:30, and there will be breakdancing demonstrations and lessons earlier in the evening. The "So You're Living Off Campus" information session that was first seen during Student Life 101 in August will be given at 8 p.m. for anybody interested. An Iranian cultural presentation is on tap for 9:00. And "Friday the 13th", appropriately enough, will be shown on the great hall big screen at 7:30 and again at midnight.

FitzGerald said the program -- vaguely modelled on one from an American campus where there just didn't seem to be much to do on weekends -- is intended to draw on existing groups (such as Theatre on the Edge, the breakdancers and the Iranian student association) rather than organize events from scratch. She's keen to hear from people who would like to be involved in the next Warrior Weekends, scheduled for early October and early November.

Notes from Laurier
Unionized staff at Wilfrid Laurier University have turned down a contract offer, and will be in a legal strike position as of midnight tonight. The WLU Staff Association, in independent union, has been without a contract since June 30.
"A tent has been set up as an information kiosk" as renovations continue at WLU's library building. Users are expected to be allowed back in the library building starting today, although not all the books will be available for a while longer.
WLU held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for its $11.5 million Science Research Centre, largely funded by federal and provincial "innovation" agencies. It's a four-storey addition to WLU's existing science building.
And at Concordia . . .
Shameful and distressing, says rector

Friday the 13th, and beyond

An announcement is expected this morning of an Ontario government grant for UW's Elliott Avedon Museum and Archive of Games and the Earth Sciences Museum. An celebration of the announcement, starring local MPP and education minister Elizabeth Witmer, is scheduled for 10:00 this morning in the earth sciences museum in Biology I.

Ann Barrett, manager of the English language proficiency program, reports that results from last week's writing of the English proficiency exam "are ready and are posted in faculty undergraduate offices and here outside PAS 2082. About 2,600 students wrote the exam and about 25% did not meet their faculty's pass requirement. There are options for those who did not pass and they should consult their undergraduate offices. Congratulations to all those students who were successful."

WPIRG (the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group) is having an open house today from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. WPIRG is located in the Student Life Centre, room 2139. "Come see our office, find out about volunteer opportunities, mingle with staff & volunteers and eat free food!" the invitation says. "All are welcome. WPIRG is a student funded and directed not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide a framework and support for students to research, educate, and take action on environmental and social justice issues as they define them."

It's the first weekend of the fall term, and things should be buzzing at the Bombshelter in the Student Life Centre. The Bomber's patio was expanded over the summer, but, an item from 'uwstudent.org' reports, that won't do any immediate good: "For the Feds pub in the SLiCe to increase its capacity it has to be approved for a extension of its licence which is held by the university. On Wednesday night metal barriers will prevent patrons from using the new and unlicensed part of the patio. Under the current licence the indoor part of the Bombshelter has a capacity of 373 patrons and the patio is licensed to hold 165. Ground Zero which Di Lullo says will not be used as part of the Bomber, was used last year as a line up area and has a capacity under the licence for 138." Paperwork to get the licence changed is pending, the news item says.

"Welcome Week" for new graduate students continues, with a corn roast tonight at the Graduate House (5 to 7 p.m.), live jazz with "The Sharp Five" starting at 9:00, and a day-long trip tomorrow to Canada's Wonderland. Optometry students are also off to Canada's Wonderland tomorrow, as it happens, in the final event of their first-week orientation program.

Reunion events for engineering alumni are scheduled tomorrow and Sunday, as the classes of 1962, 1967 and 1972 take a look at how the campus (and their classmates) have changed. A "get reacquainted lunch" at the University Club will be followed by a reunion dinner at Kitchener's Four Points Sheraton Hotel.

Here's a note from Chandrika Anjaria in the information systems and technology department: "The East Indian community of the Waterloo Region are delighted to announce our fifth and final Walkathon for the upcoming Grand River Hospital Cancer Centre, on Sunday, September 15, at the Student Life Centre. Registration commences at 9 a.m. Everyone is invited to walk and have fun and a light lunch. We have lots of prizes for the walkers, and our delicious samosa too." Anjaria is co-chair of the event again this year.

Students living in Waterloo -- from UW and Wilfrid Laurier University both -- have been invited to the fifth annual "Welcome Students to the Community" barbecue, being held Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m. The location is Hickory Street, between Lester and Sunview. "Enjoy free food and meet your neighbours," says a flyer from the Student and Community Interaction Committee. People from fire, police and bylaw departments, UW and WLU security, and other such groups will be there "to answer your questions", and the list of sponsors suggests that food won't be in short supply. "This is an alcohol-free event," the flyer adds. Information: 885-6748.

Note to co-op students who were on work term jobs during the spring: in most programs, work reports are due Monday.

Sports this weekend: The football Warriors host Ottawa at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. The men's and women's soccer teams host Toronto tomorrow and York on Sunday (both days, the men play at 1 p.m. and the women at 3 p.m.). The men's rugby team hosts Queen's tomorrow at 1:00; the women's team hosts Western at 3:00. The field hockey team will be in Toronto on Sunday for a couple of games, and the cross-country team competes tomorrow in the Guelph Open.

And then there are the baseball Warriors, who are off to Toronto for weekend-long competition in the Blue Jay Cup. The Warriors defeated Laurier 5-4 on Wednesday night, behind the pitching of rookie Chad Hyatt. Incidentally, I reported the other day that the Warriors had swept a recent double-header against York, 8-4 and 10-6. In fact, the athletics department confirms after double-checking, the score in that first game was 7-5 -- still a Warrior victory.

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
September 13, 1994: The morning after the Québec election returns the Parti Québecois to power, the Daily Bulletin comes out in French.