Daily Bulletin

Friday, October 10, 1997

Departments face a budget cut

He said he has told deans and associate provosts that departments need to give back 1 per cent of their 1997-98 budgets one a one-time basis, for a total saving of $1,339,000. The levy doesn't apply to certain budget items, such as scholarships, utility bills and library acquisitions.

"Many areas will be able to accommodate" the temporary cut, Kalbfleisch said on Wednesday, though he also conceded that any budget cuts are "painful" after the cutbacks of the past few years.

The budget update, being distributed to the board's executive committee on Tuesday, shows that salary increases to staff, faculty and teaching assistants cost $3.5 million this year. Annual spending on salaries and benefits is shown as $142.1 million. The university's total spending in 1997-98 is estimated at $177.6 million (after the temporary cut).

Revenue is up too, Kalbfleisch will tell the board of governors, thanks mostly to "higher enrolments than were projected". Tuition fees are bringing in $53.7 million this year, government grants $102.9 million and other sources of funds $20.9 million, for a total of $177.5 million.

"Full-time undergraduate enrolment is now expected to be nearly 2% higher than in 1996-97," the provost writes. "Part-time and graduate visa student enrolments are down."

A new minister of education

David J. Johnson

The new education minister is Dave Johnson, previously chair of the management board, whose reputation is being summed up by commentators this morning in words such as "calm" and "reasonable". He was the government's front man in settling its dispute with the public service, and now he can try his talents on teachers furious at the changes implied in Bill 160.

Johnson, a former systems analyst and then mayor of the Toronto borough of East York, is a graduate of Waterloo (MMath, 1968, after a science degree from McMaster).

UW president James Downey commented this morning on the skills Johnson will bring to bear on the triple problems of the school system -- "the financial side, the governance side, the curriculum side" -- but observed that he's not going to have much spare time to think about the equally pressing problems of universities and colleges. "We're just not on their radar screens," Downey said. He noted that this fall provides a golden opportunity for the province to act on post-secondary education funding, on the promised "partial deregulation" of tuition fees, and on student assistance programs, all in the context of last winter's Smith report. Ideally, Downey said, he'd like to see post-secondary education have a ministry of its own.

In other features of the Ontario cabinet shuffle:

• Waterloo MPP Elizabeth Witmer, previously minister of labour, takes on the big challenge of the health ministry.
• Health minister Jim Wilson moves to head a new ministry of energy, science and technology.

Federal networks get funding

The Networks of Centres of Excellence were described by industry minister John Manley as "a vital part of the federal government's science and technology strategy . . . this highly dynamic program". Each centre involves researchers from across Canada, in universities, government and industry, working on "problems of strategic importance to Canada".

The new funding amounts to "an investment of $94.3 million over four years", Manley said.

UW researchers are involved in nine of the 14 Networks, although none is based primarily at Waterloo. These are the 14, with their status following Manley's announcement (an asterisk* indicates a centre that involves UW researchers):

• Canadian Bacterial Diseases Network, renewed for seven years.
• Canadian Genetic Diseases Network, renewed for seven years.
• Canadian Institute for Telecommunications Research, renewed for four years.*
• Concrete Canada, funding will end March 31.*
• Health Evidence Application and Linkage Network, up for review next year.*
• Inspiraplex, Respiratory Health Network, funding will end March 31.
• Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems, renewed for seven years.*
• Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures, up for review next year.*
• Mechanical Wood-Pulps Network, renewed for four years.*
• Micronet, renewed for seven years.*
• NeuroScience Network, funding will end March 31.
• Protein Engineering Network, renewed for seven years.
• Sustainable Forest Management Network, up for review next year.*
• TeleLearning Network, up for review next year.*

UW history nearly ready

Yan said the book's title is to be Waterloo: The Unconventional Founding of an Unconventional University. An earlier suggestion was that McLaughlin would recycle the title of lectures he has given about UW's history: "Dreaming in Technicolor".

Other notes, very briefly

The Graduate Student Association has a Thanksgiving potluck dinner at 6:30 tonight; there's a sign-up sheet in the Grad House.

The drama department's show "Female Parts" continues in the studio theatre, Humanities room 180, tonight and tomorrow night at 8; the show resumes October 15 through 18.

Sports this weekend include a Warrior football game at McMaster on Saturday afternoon. The field hockey Athenas host Guelph at University Stadium tonight at 6:00. The rugby Warriors, undefeated in spite of their difficulties, host Brock at 3:00 today at Columbia Field. Several teams are on the road, including the hockey Warriors, who are tuning up with two pre-season games in Ohio over the weekend.

A workshop on "Handling Problems in the Classroom: Crisis Management" is scheduled for Friday, October 17. Intended for both faculty members and teaching assistants, it's sponsored by the teaching resource office and runs from 12 noon to 1:30 p.m. Information and registration: phone ext. 3132.

The Day of Atonement For Jews around the world, tomorrow brings not festivity but solemnity. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sunset this evening with the Kol Nidre ("all vows") service and continuing with a liturgy of repentance tomorrow. The Jewish FAQ notes: "It is a day set aside to 'afflict the soul,' to atone for the sins of the past year. Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and G-d, not for sins against another person. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible. That must all be done before Yom Kippur."

So we come to Thanksgiving

CAR

October 12, 1978: Malcolm Muggeridge fills the Humanities Theatre as he delivers the first Pascal Lecture.

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