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University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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Wednesday, October 2, 1996

Fourth assault is reported

UW police have confirmed that a fourth incident took place Saturday morning in which a woman was grabbed by a man on an old ten-speed bike. This assault happened along the ring road near the Davis Centre, about 7:45 a.m.

It was raining Saturday morning, and the woman used her umbrella to push the man away after he grabbed her repeatedly and made comments about her appearance. The man rode off toward the plaza just east of campus, says Sergeant Wayne Shortt of the university police.

The style of the assault, and the description of the man, match earlier incidents in mid-August near the Laurel Conservation Area, on August 30 on the Bauer Road pathway on UW's north campus, and on September 18 in Waterloo Park. All three incidents took place in the morning.

The man has "a strong Mexican or Spanish accent", Shortt said. According to a bulletin issued by UW police last week, he is 20 to 25 years old with a dark complexion and short black hair; he rides a "dark, older" ten-speed bike.

Pascal Lectures start today

"The Startling Idea of Christian Scholarship" is the title of the 1996 Pascal lectures on Christianity and the university, which start tonight. Dr. George Marsden of Notre Dame University, historian and critic of American religion and culture, will give two free evening lectures as well as two afternoon seminars.

Tonight's lecture, entitled "The Startling Idea," starts at 8 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts. In it, Marsden will explore "the historical reasons for the exclusion of Christian perspectives from the university". Tomorrow, same time and place, in "What Difference Does It Make?", he will counter the objection that Christian scholarship does not often differ from "plain, old good scholarship".

The afternoon seminars are on "Christian Perspectives in a Pluralistic University" (today at 2:30 in Arts Lecture room 113) and "The Academic Game: Living in Two Worlds" (tomorrow at 2:30 in Engineering Lecture room 211).

Currently the Francis A. McAnaney professor of history at Notre Dame University in Indiana, Marsden was educated at Yale and has been professor of history of Christianity in America at Duke University (1986-1992) and visiting professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. His books Religion and American Culture and The Secularization of the Academy focus on the university's relationship with its religious roots. In 1994, Marsden published The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief.

The Pascal lectures were established in 1978 to create a forum for Christian issues in an academic environment. The lecture series has brought to the university "outstanding individuals of international repute who have also distinguished themselves in the area of Christian life and thought". Past speakers have included British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (1978), author Madeleine L'Engle (1984), physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne (1992) and environmental geneticist R.J. Berry (1994).

A chance to hear about jobs

Some 2,500 students from UW and three other postsecondary institutions will introduce themselves, ask questions, and try to make a good impression on the representatives of some 188 companies at a career fair being held today at Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener. The third annual fair will be the biggest yet and may be the biggest such event in Canada, says Jan Basso, who heads the career office at Wilfrid Laurier University, which is co-sponsoring the event with UW, the University of Guelph and Conestoga College.

Last year Career Fair drew 102 employers, "and we thought that was fantastic," Basso says. The joint sponsorship goes over really well with the employers because "they can hit four campuses in one day for the same price," she said.

The collaboration works well for students, too. "This fair really capitalizes on the types of employers each different campus would draw. So we get exposure for our students to the tech companies that Waterloo would normally draw, and they get exposure to the business organizations that we would normally draw. It's a really nice mix for the students."

Employers at Career Fair typically will have full-time positions available, but the fair is intended as an opportunity for employers to introduce students to their companies and respond to queries about job requirements, industry trends, salary ranges, opportunities. Career Fair can help students in the early stage of their studies as well as those closer to graduating. "Students can come in and find out what courses they should be picking for the next couple of years so they can prepare themselves for graduation, but it's also an event for final-year students to say 'here I am'," Basso says. Some alumni will also be dropping in.

Career Fair runs from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today. Free shuttle buses are running from UW's Student Life Centre.

Also happening at Waterloo

These events, briefly (and of course, today and every day, you can check UWevents for a full listing of anything the organizers have seen fit to announce): Finally -- and looking a little farther ahead -- fall convocation ceremonies will be held on Saturday, October 26. The official invitations don't say which faculties will be featured at which ceremony, but here's the word: applied health sciences and arts at 10 a.m., engineering, ES, IS, mathematics and science at 2 p.m. There's also, I am told, a mistake on the official invitations, which say that Bruce Mitchell's distinguished teacher award will be presented at the morning ceremony; in fact, since he's a geography professor, it'll be presented in the afternoon.

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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