Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Thursday, November 28, 1996

Third woman is assaulted

Two sexual assaults that took place on the edge of campus Tuesday morning have been followed by a third assault yesterday, this one in parking lot C. In each case, a man -- described as slender, in his early 20s, with a "pock-marked" face -- grabbed a woman, who managed to get away without physical harm.

Waterloo Regional Police and UW police say they do not think the assailant Tuesday and Wednesday is the same man who committed several assaults near campus earlier this fall, making his getaway on a bicycle each time. A man has been charged in those earlier incidents.

Advice from the police today is that women should avoid walking alone on isolated pathways; and anything suspicious should be reported to the university police at 888-4911.

Tuesday's assaults became the front-page headline story for yesterday's Kitchener-Waterloo Record, and this morning even CBC radio news was reporting the three assaults.

The funding suspense continues

We now know even less than we did before about what the Ontario government will do to university grants and tuition fees in 1997. Provincial treasurer Ernie Eves said yesterday he is cancelling plans to make an "economic statement" in the next few days, a statement that was expected to include word on next year's transfer payments to universities, colleges, schools, hospitals and municipalities.

"We are looking for an additional $3 billion in savings," Eves said, confirming a figure that was announced earlier. He will appear before the Ontario legislature's finance committee today, and it's always possible that he will provide some information. Best of all, from a university leaders' point of view, would be a statement that the government has decided not to cut university grants any more than they've been cut already. Or, of course, Eves might not mention universities at all.

So the suspense continues. At the October meeting of UW's senate, president James Downey did a good-news-bad-news routine about what might be coming, noting that the "Smith panel" on post-secondary education won't have recommendations in time to make any difference this year. An excerpt from the minutes:

There are two "tributaries" of rumor and fact that are flowing into the increasing anxiety that people have. One of these tributaries says that the government will not reduce operating grants again, that it has fulfilled the commitment of the Common Sense Revolution to take $400 million out of post-secondary education, that the universities and colleges were more hard-hit last year than any of the other agencies that the government supports. Further, the Minister has indicated in public statements, as well as in private conversations, that he fully expects that the universities will be spared a further reduction in operating grants next year. On the other hand, increasingly we are hearing that there are large reductions still to be made. There is considerable pressure from Management Board to "get it done and over with while the politics of it are right."
These two strands will have to be reconciled in Cabinet before any announcement is made. Through COU, UW will be making the best representations it can to everyone who has a say or part in all of this. Meetings are taking place on a weekly basis, both with public officials and the major political players, in the hope that institutions can "tip the balance" towards the first scenario.

Happening on a snowy day

The staff association's seasonal craft sale runs today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1301. On sale: cushions, dolls, pottery, angels, carvings and other tchotchkes made by some 25 staff members and retirees. One-tenth of the proceeds go to scholarship and bursary funds.

First-year systems design engineering students will be showing off their design projects tonight -- devices "for transferring fluid and moving tennis balls", explains instructor Barry Wills. Visitors are welcome to have a look at the demonstration, starting at 7 p.m. in Engineering Lecture room 201.

Geography students have Tex-Mex food -- just about what we need to warm us up today -- for sale in the Environmental Studies I courtyard, starting at 9:30.

The new play about sexual harassment, "Pass the Sugar, Honey", has two performances today: at 12 noon in the Conrad Grebel College cafeteria, and at 5:30 at St. Jerome's College. On the same subject, the Federation of Students is holding an hour-and-a-half seminar, "Am I Just Being Too Sensitive?", at 4:00 in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre.

Happy Thanksgiving to you . . .

if you're American, either an expatriate in Canada or a Bulletin reader who's south of the border on this most important of all American holidays.

A day of learning technology

"Come and see how your colleagues are using multimedia to deal with specific problems and explore how these solutions are being used in teaching and learning," is the invitation from the teaching resource office (TRACE) for a special day of activities Tuesday, December 10.

The "Learning Technologies Innovation Showcase" offers two panel discussions in the morning, and an afternoon of demonstrations: "Applications range from video presentations to interactive instruction modules to full courses on the Internet."

Advance registration for the day isn't required, but TRACE is spreading the word and inviting all instructors (and other interested people) to head for the Davis Centre that day.

The day's first panel, at 9 a.m., is on "Evaluating the Impact of Learning Technologies". Moderated by Gary Waller, associate provost (academic and student affairs), it will include Paul Beam of the English department, Claudio Canizares of electrical and computer engineering, Alex Penlidis of chemical engineering, and Jane Webster of management sciences.

The 10:45 panel is on "Making Online Content (and Online Students) Come Alive", and will be moderated by Jay Black, associate provost (information systems and technology). Other speakers will be Terri Meyer Boake of architecture, Mieke Delfgaauw of urban and regional planning (whose Planning 220 students last winter created Planweb), Richard Hughson of kinesiology, and Jim Robinson of environment and resource studies.

"Demonstrations of Innovations in Learning Technology for Use in Teaching" will run from 1:30 to 4 p.m. on the 10th.

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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