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Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Monday, December 2, 1996

In the bleak December

Not that it's snowing particularly hard right now; but one of these days it will, and then people will wonder whether the university is closing. So please take note now of the storm closing procedure, which you can find on UWinfo under "Documents", and which includes these key paragraphs:
UW will close automatically if the Waterloo County Board of Education closes all its schools for the day. If the school board closes rural schools only, or cancels school buses but does not close schools, UW is not closed.

UW follows the school board's lead in these cases because the board has a longstanding system for evaluating weather conditions and announcing its decision. UW classes -- including those in the evening -- will be cancelled along with all non-essential services. Non-essential staff will not be expected to come to work.

Examinations that are scheduled on the day or the evening of a closing because of bad weather will be cancelled and rescheduled. Deadlines for assignments, job applications and other requirements are postponed to the same time on the next working day.

Radio stations that can be expected to carry announcements include CKGL (570), CKKW (1090), CHYM (96.7) and KOOL-FM (105.3), as well as UW's own student station, CKMS (100.3 FM). The university's news bureau will try to arrange to have UW mentioned explicitly, but staff, faculty and students can assume that if a complete closing of Board of Education schools is announced, UW has also closed.

"Essential" services are defined as food service in the residences, policing, the central plant (powerhouse), snow removal (grounds crew), emergency repair and maintenance, animal care. "No department can designate any other services as 'essential' or require staff to work during a 'closed' period without approval from the Provost or delegate."

Student is found dead

Salim Dastagir, a graduate student in management sciences, was found dead in his apartment yesterday. He came to UW after completing an undergraduate degree in engineering at Madras University in India, and began his master's degree work here in September 1995. According to his supervisor, David Dilts, Dastagir had been ill for several months, but seemed better recently. His body was discovered about 1 a.m. Sunday at his Laurel Street apartment, Dilts said. The coroner is investigating.

Senate executive meets today

The executive committee of the UW senate will meet this afternoon, and is expected to decide officially that the December meeting of the full senate will be cancelled. The items on the agenda look pretty routine: course and program changes, revised "examination and promotions" regulations from the engineering faculty, an annual report on scholarships, and so on.

There's also a report from the three-member committee that was set up in the fall of 1995 to review the women's studies program. "Women's Studies has a consistent and solid presence on campus, with a clear sense of coherence," says the report. "Co-operation with Wilfrid Laurier University is an added asset to the program." It "strongly recommends" that the program continue: "Its courses and interdisciplinary perspective are increasingly relevant to students and today's society." It does say that the director, Harriet Lyons, is "somewhat isolated" because she's the only faculty member with a specific appointment in women's studies; "this problem could be corrected by the appointment of a second part-time professor."

The senate executive meeting starts at 3:30 today in Needles Hall room 3004.

Winter non-credit courses

The winter term calendar is out from the continuing education office, and shows a fair number of new courses along with such mainstays as "managing chronic pain", "commercial and business law", and "introduction to Local Area Networks". Among the newly listed courses: The courses are divided into categories: Personal Development, Just for Kids, Professional Development, Business Communications, Computing Skills. More information, and copies of the calendar, can be had from the continuing ed office at ext. 4002, e-mail conted@corr1.

A note from audio-visual

"With Christmas holidays quickly approaching," writes Scott Charles, director of the audio-visual centre, "The Audio Visual Centre and Media Library would like to remind everyone to book their requests for film and television programs and visual aids equipment now! Programs to be shown and equipment to be used during the first two weeks of the winter term should be requested no later than December 13. Our offices will be closed from December 23 to January 1. On January 2 and 3, requests will be taken but will not be processed till January 6. Thank you for your cooperation and we wish everyone a very happy holiday."

[Trent picket line]

And a few other notes

Faculty members at Trent University continue on strike -- a picketer is pictured at left -- but mediation between the union and the Trent administration resumed yesterday in Toronto.

Back at Waterloo, or rather in Kitchener, photographer Bob McNair of UW's faculty of environmental studies is speaking at Kitchener Public Library today as part of its noon-hour "Issues and Ideas" series. His topic: "Landscape Images".

The Gazette has already mentioned one or two Christmas charitable projects being carried on by UW departments, and there are more to come. If your department (or student group) is doing something generous to mark the season, please would you let me know about it so you too can be mentioned in print? The university's news bureau, which looks after external media relations, is also keenly interested.

CAR

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