University of Waterloo

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Wednesday, October 11, 1995

I made a mistake or three

In yesterday's Bulletin, I said the goal for the United Way campaign on campus was $150,000 this year. In fact, it's $160,000.

And in the note about this year's Distinguished Teacher Awards, I said the phone number for the teaching resource office was ext. 4132. It's really ext. 3132.

And I put one of UW's spinoff firms into the agricultural sector, rather than the software business, by calling it Open Text Crop.

A bad day, altogether. And I'm not even blaming myself for the extra "r" in "errrors", quoted from the disclaimer in the undergraduate calendar. My own mistakes have been corrected on the permanent Web and gopher versions of the Bulletin.

Back to the teaching awards, now. Lew Brubacher of the chemistry department suggests that I "might also include the Union Carbide Award for Chemical Education which is given annually by the Chemical Institute of Canada to 'recognize a person who has made outstanding contributions in Canada in education at any level in the field of chemistry or chemical engineering'. The winner in 1990 was our own Don Irish."

Government cut cleared up

The Ontario government has confirmed that it's not cutting $16 million from university budgets twice in the current year. The cut, as reported by various media on Friday, is the same one that was previously announced in the summer; the government lumped it with other cuts to the budgets of various ministries, in summarizing all the trimming it's doing to 1995-96 spending.

Along with figures on cuts for the current year and next year, some "questions and answers" were issued by the premier's office yesterday to clear things up a little:

Are the cuts announced by the Ministry of Education and Training mostly cuts that have been previously announced>
The majority of the 1995-96 cuts, namely the one per cent cut in transfer payments to school boards, colleges and universities sector and were announced on July 21. . . . The 1996-97 figures have been released today for the first time. . . .

Why are there no cuts in transfer payments to schools, colleges and universities in 1996-97?
Additional cuts in transfer payments will be dealt with in the context of the finance minister's economic statement in November. The details you saw today were part of a separate exercise in reducing operating expenses.

Please note that I'm not responsible for the government's syntax. Or the government's sales tax, either.

Things that are happening

On the second day of employer interviews:

Representatives from Ontario faculties of education are visiting, today and tomorrow; the career resource centre has the details.
To say goodbye to Pauline Clough, who's been working in the research office for much of her 20-year career at Waterloo, a reception will be held today from 4 to 6 p.m. at the University Club. Last-minute information: Pam Helmes-Hayes, ext. 6004.
Visiting historian Avraham Sela of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem gives a public lecture on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, tonight at 7:30 at Siegfried Hall of St. Jerome's College.
Occupants of Needles Hall should take a few deep breaths before they leave tonight. The air supply and return system in NH will be shut down tomorrow from 8 to 11 a.m. for annual maintenance.

Citadel case will continue

And now a note from the diverse world of American higher education, as reported by the Academe Today electronic news service:

The federal judge who will decide whether the Citadel can remain all-male has allowed another woman to take Shannon Faulkner's place as plaintiff in the case. U. S. District Court Judge C. Weston Houck dismissed Shannon Faulkner as plaintiff [last] Tuesday because she voluntarily left the Citadel in August, less than a week after being admitted. Ms. Faulkner battled in court for more than two years before winning the right to join the institution's Corps of Cadets. She blamed her departure on stress caused by hostile Citadel students and their supporters.
The judge said Ms. Faulkner would be replaced by Nancy Mellette, a South Carolina high-school student who has applied for admission to the Citadel. Ms. Mellette's father graduated from the Citadel in 1963 and her brother is a senior there. . . . When Ms. Faulkner first sued in 1993, the Justice Department joined in challenging the males-only admissions policy because the Citadel is a public institution.

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

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