UW president James Downey said yesterday that he's actually heard two different versions of the rumour. Both are based on a report supposed to have been prepared in the Ontario finance ministry, a document that "somebody" has seen, about possible cost savings and reorganization in the university system. One version lists WLU along with Carleton and Ryerson as universities that could be combined with their neighbours to produce savings; the other version lists Brock, Windsor and Trent.
Whether or not anybody is actually looking at mergers right now, the idea of turning UW and WLU into a single institution has been surfacing from time to time ever since they both developed from a single root, Waterloo College, in 1959. A major study was actually done, more than a decade ago, and concluded that the savings from merger would be small, and more than cancelled out by losses in morale and diversity. It did recommend all kinds of administrative and academic cooperation, most of which have come to pass over the years, from joint library borrowing to a joint undergraduate program in Spanish.
An open house is set for 2:30 p.m. and ceremonies at 3 p.m., involving the presidents of UW, McMaster and Toronto, as well as a representative of the Ontario ministry of education and training. Invited guests are being promised "an opportunity to talk to graduate students and working engineers who are tapping into the specialized expertise and resources of three of Canada's leading engineering faculties".
Michael Higgins, dean of St. Jerome's College, speaks at 7:30 tonight (in Siegfried Hall) about "Pope John Paul II's position on human dignity" -- and, beyond doubt, issues of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality.
The Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre has a free matinee performance by Mike Woods today (12:30).
The Computer Science Club will run an "ACM-style Programming Contest" tomorrow, the second of two competitions to pick UW's team for the regional and international programming competitions sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery. You can register at the CSC office until 10 tomorrow; practice session starts at 10:30 and the real competition runs from noon to 3:00. Information comes from Jo Ebergen in the CS department, jebergen@maveric0.
The "Battle of Waterloo" pits the football Warriors against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks tomorrow at 2:00 at University Stadium. It's a home game for WLU, so UW fans can expect to pay for admission. Hey, if Waterloo and Laurier ever did merge, what would we call the football team? The Golden Warriors?
A fund-raising Run for K-W Hospital is set for Sunday morning. The 5-km race starts at 9:00 at Kitchener Auditorium, the 10-k at 9:30 at Conestoga Mall. Both runs finish at the Auditorium. Information: 749-4205.
Chris Redmond
Information
and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
credmond@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca