Daily Bulletin

Thursday, April 18, 1996

Tomorrow's the day of protest

The protest day as a whole is directed against all aspects of the social policies of Ontario's Progressive Conservative government, headed by premier Mike Harris. The major event is a march from Erb Street in Waterloo to downtown Kitchener, with a 12:30 rally in front of city hall.

Of course, not everybody tries to influence the government in the same way. Jane Pak, president of the Federation of Students, says the Feds haven't endorsed the day of protest. But she and a couple of other Fed leaders will be meeting tomorrow with Elizabeth Witmer, Waterloo's MPP and the Ontario minister of labour, to "discuss some of the key issues" around post-secondary education.

Campus picketing is expected

But UW police chief Al MacKenzie said yesterday he now understands there will be pickets at all the campus entrances -- as many as seven roadways and parking lots. ("This still is very fluid," he added.) As a result, people coming to campus tomorrow can definitely expect to be delayed, although picket organizers have said they will be "friendly" and won't "prevent" people coming to work. The university is officially open on Friday, though examinations have been cancelled.

The police chief said several parking lots will be wide open, to make it easier for people to avoid traffic jams and confrontations. In particular, lots N, R and L, at the Columbia Street end of campus, will be open for anyone who wants to park there tomorrow. MacKenzie repeated his warning that things are "fluid" -- there's no real way to know where crowds, pickets or confusion might be until things get going tomorrow.

Employees are expected to come to work tomorrow unless they've booked vacation time or made other arrangements, the provost said in a memo two weeks ago. However, university officials are also saying that people shouldn't put themselves in a situation they feel is dangerous. If you can't get to work, you should phone in.

The police chief's advice to anyone coming to campus on Friday: "Be patient, be tolerant, and let's get through the day without any incidents." (And, please, pass that word along to anyone who may not have a chance to read this Daily Bulletin.)

Rally in the arts quad

Plans are for music to start around 9:00 and speeches around 10. At 10:15, rally participants head off campus, following a circuitous route past Modern Languages, along the ring road and over the railway tracks down University Avenue. They'll link up with other protesters for the big march to Kitchener.

"We're going to block off Ring Road at around 10:00," police chief MacKenzie said. He expects the roadway to be closed for about half an hour, from parking lot B1 past the University Avenue entrance around past Modern Languages to the area of the Student Life Centre.

Off-campus visitors and rally participants will be using parking lot C off University Avenue; it too will be wide open to all comers tomorrow. "What we're going to do," MacKenzie said, "is accommodate them as best we can."

He repeats his message: keep calm, expect delays and frustrations, don't do dangerous things, and don't put yourself in a situation that you feel is threatening.

It's a busy Thursday

Also: exams continue. Tonight's the big on-campus party at Wilfrid Laurier University that will (so student leaders, university officials and the police hope) replace the Ezra Avenue street party of previous years. And spring may be here at last.

I had a note from Bulletin reader Lew Brubacher in the chemistry department, after my grumble yesterday about the mid-April snow flurries. He writes:

It's not that unusual to have snow in late Spring, is it? I recall losing half our roof shingles in a wind storm on April 30, 1984, and the next day, May 1, 1984, the roofers had to contend with much more snow than we had last night. I will grant you that this winter was colder than last winter (my gas bill's degree days comparison tells me that), but although this April has been rather cold, I doubt that it is extremely unusual. Having lived in several communities in four countries as an adult, I can tell you that people everywhere tend to view their weather as unusual most of the time. We just have short memories.

Reliving a little history

Other things happening today

• Jan Weber (of the graphic services department) talks about "Growing Orchids" at noontime, in Davis Centre room 1302, as part of the staff association's spring series of gardening seminars. (Perhaps there are people who don't know that UW is the home of a major World Wide Web site about orchids, at http://sciserv2/orchids.html.)
• The purchasing department holds an open house from 3 to 6 this afternoon, in Davis Centre room 1301, for five staff who are retiring: Helga Hartman, Duane Cook, Roma Rastel, Don Gardener and Marian Warren.
• The "concerned retirees" group holds a meeting at 3:30 in Math and Computer room 4063. "We must now consider our next steps," says organizer John Towler, who's talking about legal action in connection with health benefits for retirees who take their money out of the UW pension plan.
• Retired librarian Rienzi Crusz, who's a well-known Canadian poet, visits campus at noontime to read from his new work at a meeting of the Librarians' Association (12:15, Dana Porter Library room 428).

Don't forget to RSVP

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

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