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Monday, July 17, 1995

The people's flag is deepest red

What's that banner flying just under the Ontario ensign at the main entrance to campus? Answer: it's the flag of the International Mathematics Olympiad, a worldwide competition for high school students. The contest is under way right now at York University in Toronto, but the jury -- some 170 people strong -- arrived at UW's Village 2 conference centre on Thursday, and will be here through most of this week, preparing the question paper for the contest. Plenty of people from the faculty of mathematics are being kept busy, including Barry Ferguson, the local arrangements coordinator. The IMO has an office in Village 2 for the duration, phone 746-4613.

Could be an interesting week

The Ontario government is expected to make some announcements later this week about what it's cutting and spending, how and when, as it starts to implement the "Common Sense Revolution" that was its platform in the recent election. The Mike Harris platform talked about a spending cut of $400 million on higher education, though details weren't absolutely clear. That would be "a tremendous hit", UW provost Jim Kalbfleisch told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record last week.

On the other hand, the Harris platform also spoke of increases in tuition fees to make up for at least some of the lost revenue from government. The new education minister, John Snobelen, said more definitely last week that students can expect tuition increases in 1996-97, along with a new student assistance plan based almost entirely on loans, not grants. Fee increases could be not-so-good news for students and potential students, but allowing universities to set and raise their own fees might not be bad for Waterloo, Kalbfleisch commented. "We feel we would be able to compete just fine," with large numbers of students seeking admission to this university.

UW could be affected, directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, by various other steps the government might take. One big question is the future of the expensive JobsOntario program -- which is the source of much of the capital funding for UW's planned Centre for Environmental Science and Engineering.

Service is held for student

A memorial service will be held at 7:30 tonight in the Theatre of the Arts for Chad Cronkwright, who was killed in a fall at the SkyDome last week. From the department of drama and speech communication, which is organizing the service, Bill Chesney advises that memorial gifts in Cronkwright's memory can go to the Matt Lees Fund for Injured Theatre Technicians; Chesney has more information at ext. 3685.

Open meetings on computing

The University Computing Committee has announced three open meetings as part of its review of the University Computing Directions Statement. Dates of the meetings:

Happening on a hazy day

Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca

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