Daily Bulletin, Tuesday, January 17, 1995

WHAT HAPPENED TO IVY?  The dulcet voice of Meridian Mail, the campus
voice-mail system, fell silent about 10:30 yesterday morning, and the
"automated attendant" that answers incoming calls at 888-4567 was also
out of operation.  Result: no voice-mail messages, and a clogged switchboard
as every incoming call had to be answered by a human being.  (Between 8,000 
and 9,000 calls are received each working day on 888-4567 or the manual
number, 885-1211, says Joan Wiley, director of telephone services.)

She says the problem was traced to a disk drive on the telephone services
computing system.  Bell Canada repair crews were at work there until 3:40
this morning, when most of the system was brought back into operation,
although there are some users whose voice mailboxes still aren't working.

"That's not the type of birthday present I like," says Wiley, who was
celebrating yesterday -- until 10:30, anyway.

POLICY 18, the UW document that deals with recruitment and promotion and
termination of staff, has been under revision for a good year now.  The
main point of concern: a section about how UW handles layoffs, staff
being let go for financial or "organizational" reasons.  The staff relations
committee issued a draft of a new policy last September, heard many
comments on it, and has been back to work revising the revisions.

The product of their labours is to be made public tomorrow morning.  A
meeting of department heads has been called for 3:30 this afternoon in
Needles Hall, so that managers will know what it's all about when their
staff receive a memo tomorrow explaining the new policy.

CLUBS are strutting their stuff today and tomorrow: the Federation of
Students sponsors "clubs awareness days" from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the
Campus Centre great hall.  "Have a look at what the various Federation
clubs have to offer," the invitation goes.  "Join up for some 
extracurricular interest this term."

THE MATHEMATICS faculty council holds its monthly meeting today at 3:30
(Math and Computer room 5158), and on the agenda is a progress report from
the faculty's planning committee.  "The Faculty emphasizes both theory
and application, and their interdependence," says a draft mission
statement.  "The development of individuals with exceptional quantitative
and analytical skills is one of the primary ways in which the Faculty
serves society."

JOHN POLANYI, Nobel Prize winner and chemist at the University of Toronto,
starts his visit to campus today as the 1995 Hagey Lecturer.  His big
talk is tomorrow night, but today at 2:30 he'll speak chiefly to chemistry
students, on "The Molecular Dance in Chemical Reactions".  That talk is
set for 2:30 p.m. in Davis Centre 1350.

GRADE REPORTS for the fall term will be available tomorrow morning, the
registrar's office says.

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