Daily Bulletin

University of Waterloo -- Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Friday, March 21, 1997

The first weekend of spring

Along with plenty of entertainment -- more about that in a moment -- this weekend offers several natural and cultural phenomena, including Sunday evening's partial eclipse of the moon. "At its deepest," says Sky & Telescope, "only 92 percent of the Moon's diameter will be within the dark umbra of the Earth's shadow. But the sight will be a head-turner nonetheless, with a dramatically darkened and reddened full Moon appearing to wear a brilliant white cap. Not only that, but the eclipse comes just as Comet Hale-Bopp nears its peak brightness in the evening sky!" The eclipse begins at 9:58 p.m., Eastern time, and reaches maximum at 11:39 p.m.

Spring began yesterday, which meant that last night and today see the Naw Ruz celebrations for those who follow the various Persian, Zoroastrian and Baha'i traditions. The beginning of spring is also observed by Buddhists, Shintoists, and even the ancient Wiccan faith.

Sunday, being 14 Adar in the Jewish calendar, is the festival of foolishness and hamantaschen called Purim, celebrating the victory of the beautiful Esther over the wicked Haman (as told in the Biblical book that bears her name.

Everything's up in the air

You can watch tricks with knives this weekend that the kids shouldn't try at home. Yes, here comes the UW Juggling Club -- "our mission is to promote juggling, unicycling, balloon animal tying, and other amusing diversions with which we heap glory on ourselves and the University of Waterloo."

The club is hosting its annual get-together and exhibition -- the fifth annual, and the biggest yet, says club president Michael Crawford. "This is the first year that we have gone for two days, and to beef things up accordingly, we have put some effort into attracting top notch jugglers. So far, we have confirmed Don Estabrook, who is truly one of Canada's greatest jugglers, and several other names are soon to be added to the list."

Jugglers from as far away as Detroit and Ottawa are expected for the festival, which starts at 10:00 tomorrow morning in the great hall of the Student Life Centre. Workshops fill most of the day's program, and a major public show is scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

"At this point, we are not sure what will be happening on Sunday," says Crawford. "We have the space; we will be juggling."

All-singing, all-dancing

There's plenty of other entertainment on and around campus this weekend:

UW's Chapel Choir presents its end-of-term concert Saturday night at 8, at Benton Street Baptist Church in downtown Kitchener. Led by Leonard Enns of the music department, the choir will present "Hymns and Anthems of the Church from Palestrina to Arvo Part". Tickets are $8, students $5, at the door or from the music department office at Conrad Grebel College.
"Jumpstart Moves!", a performance winding up the weekend's modern dance workshop, starts at 1:30 Sunday afternoon in the Humanities Theatre. Tickets are $8 from the Humanities box office, 888-4908.
The Chamber Choir gives its own end-of-term concert Sunday at 8 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waterloo. Kenneth Hull directs, with the choir performing works by Byrd, Tallis, Gibbons, Raminsh, Britten and Bach. Again, tickets are $8, students $5, from the music department.

But you may already have a major social engagement for the weekend -- either the Arts Spring Formal tonight at the Transylvania Club, or the Hagey Bonspiel on Saturday at the Ayr Curling Club (which might explain any creaks and groans from your co-workers on Monday morning).

Other news and events

The dean of arts holds a reception this afternoon (Festival Room, 4 p.m.) to honour students on the 1996 Dean's Honours List.

Sister Janet Fulgenzi speaks at St. Jerome's College tonight (7:30, Siegfried Hall) on "Women and the Church of the '90s".

Mano Watsa of the basketball Warriors was honoured as a second-team All-Canadian for the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union at an awards banquet in Halifax last night. The University of Victoria's Eric Hinrichsen was named "outstanding player" of the year, receiving the Mike Moser Award, named for the star Warrior centre who died in 1975.

An annoyed faculty member asks me to pass along this message: "On Thursday, some time between 9 a.m. and 6:15 someone who uses parking lot H rammed into my silver-grey Honda Accord and drove away. The campus police have estimated the damage at $500-$700. Anyone who could give me information should contact Maarten van Dijk of the Department of Drama and Speech Communication at ext. 3672. Better still, why doesn't the colleague who did it simply offer to help pay the insurance deductible for the sake of their conscience. Nothing further will be said."

Trent gets its road map

A two-person "advisory committee on administration" delivered its report yesterday to troubled Trent University. The external reviewers, appointed after last fall's faculty strike and the resignation of most of Trent's senior administrators, were Harry Arthurs, former president of York University, and Joyce Lorimer of Wilfrid Laurier University, former head of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

Their report speaks of "a general loss of mutual confidence among the constituent parts of the Trent community" but says things are not hopeless. Among the major recommendations: a new composition for Trent's senate, with a faculty majority; creation of a new University Forum, a governing body parallel with the senate but responsible for non-academic matters inside the university; a coordinated search process for a new president and other senior officials, with interlocking search committees; some administrative reorganization; and better staff support for the president and vice-presidents.

And at other universities

York: The faculty association strike enters its second day, with about 60 per cent of classes cancelled and students fretting that their winter term is at risk. York management says the faculty association has "turned down one of the most generous offers in the province . . . an 8% increase in base salary over two years".

Windsor: The month-long strike by custodial and food service staff is causing some disruption, but the university hasn't been closed down. In a statement yesterday, the university said, "Students may choose, as a matter of conscience, not to cross the picket lines to attend classes, etc. being held on campus. The University cannot be held responsible for providing alternative instruction, evaluation etc. if students choose not to cross the picket lines to attend classes. . . . Clearly the professor should respect the conscientious decision taken by the student. The professor should respond to any request for alternative arrangements as though the class, etc. had been missed, for example, because of sickness."

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
March 21, 1988: The university senate rejects the provost's 1988-89 budget by a 25-22 vote after objections to the proposed increase in the student co-op fee.

March 22, 1996: St. Paul's College hosts "a Lenten forum on the social safety net", as controversy builds over cuts to public spending in Ontario.

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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