Daily Bulletin

Faculty association plans lower fees

Treasurer Frank Reynolds will present a motion to reduce the mill rate" from 5.00 to 4.75 -- that is, the amount the association collects on each $1 of salary will drop from 0.5 cents to 0.475 cents. What each individual pays is based not on his or her own salary, but on averages for each rank, such as associate professor.

As of January 1, faculty who are not association members will be required to pay "an amount equivalent to dues", under the Rand formula that was approved by a fall ballot, and that's one reason for the decrease. Says FAUW president Fred McCourt in the current issue of the Forum newsletter: "Your Board of Directors wished to recognize that by staying with the lean-and-mean image (although this should never be overdone), we could make a token reduction in our mill rate now that the Rand formula is in place."

He notes that the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations has also reduced its fees, so that about half the reduction in the mill rate can be credited to OCUFA and half to the local association. McCourt says the UW association has, and will still have, the fourth lowest rate among faculty associations at 27 major Canadian universities. "Of course," he adds, "even the reduced new mill rate still represents a significant change to our total local income, as it will be applied to a larger number of people."

The association's finances are "weak but well managed", Reynolds says in his report to today's meeting. "The lack of reserves is a worry and has a dampening effect on the activities of the Association."

In fact, costs are going up, McCourt says -- starting with the need to distribute Forum to all faculty members, now that they all pay dues or the equivalent, and to pay fees for them all to OCUFA and the Canadian Association of University Teachers. The Hagey Lectures need more money, he adds, "and as we now have external people serving as salary mediators and arbitrators, we will have to increase our salary negotiation budget. . . . There are, of course, other things that FAUW would like to be able to do."

The meeting will also hear an address by Deborah Flynn, president of OCUFA, and discuss reports on topics ranging from academic freedom and tenure to salary negotiations.

And a key agenda item is a report on negotiations with UW management about outstanding items in the Memorandum of Agreement. One such issue, the possibility of FAUW representing professional librarians, was discussed in two face-to-face meetings last month, but there has been no agreement. Other negotiations are due shortly about evaluation procedures, research ethics, and financial exigency and layoffs.

High school geographers visit

The visitors, from schools across Waterloo Region, are mostly taking OAC-level geography courses, says the organizer of the day's events, Jean Andrey of the UW geography department.

"The morning program," she says, "consists of a series of short lectures in the Humanities Theatre. In the afternoon, students will be divided into smaller groups based on their individual interests. The afternoon program includes a mix of slide shows, workshops, computer and lab demonstrations, lectures and field trips. Topics range from climate change to GIS and remote sensing to sustainable transportation."

The three lectures everyone will hear are "Space Technology: What We Can See in Your Backyard", by Phil Howarth of geography; "Water Quality Issues in Canada", by Mike Stone of the planning school; and the one that's got to be the show-stopper. That comes when Stephen Murphy of environment and resource studies speaks on "How Sex and Violence Affect Our Environment and Resources".

Sex and violence would fit with Murphy's research interests, judging from his web page:

In addition to flirtations with environmental consulting and attempts at cornering the stock market, I worked as a research associate at the University of Guelph before joining ERS in 1996. Since arriving, I have invented the question mark (though others dispute this claim), I cause the sun to come up in the morning, convert carbon dioxide into sugar, bend time and space to my will, and spend time developing delusions of grandeur.

I joined ERS because it reflected a mix of interests. I like to think I have a frenetic sense of humour, love of farce, and a taste for the eclectic. See previous paragraph if you doubt this. My, um, rather skewed perspective on life can be explained by the influence of vaudeville, odd-ball cartoons, Lego, the sordid stories behind the dross of history, music, baseball, golf, British comedy, lying on beaches in the sun (yes, mom, I use sunblock), and watching flowers and insects have sex (I swear it is for research purposes only).

How enrolment expansion got started

David Burns, who finished his eight years as dean last June, is replying to claims that in adding to enrolment in computer science and electrical and computer engineering, UW is "responding to the government in a way that compromises its ability to make independent judgments". Says Burns:

The decision to seek approval/funding for an extra stream in computer engineering was made long before the government announced its Access to Opportunities Program. It has its origins in a discussion in February 1997 at the Academic Policy Committee (APC) of the Faculty of Engineering. As dean at that time, I told the APC (chairs, associate deans, chair and vice-chair of Faculty Council) that I felt it was time to focus our attention on new initiatives, including differential expansion, rather than worrying about another round of budget cuts and the inevitable discussion of the need to develop a mechanism for making differential cuts across the university.

When we outlined these new initiatives to some members of the Waterloo Advisory Council in May 1997, there was considerable interest in our proposal to add an extra stream of students in computer engineering. During the summer of 1997 an expansion plan, including financial and space needs, was prepared and discussed within APC and with our contacts in industry.

By the fall of 1997, the Provost and President had our draft proposal for an expansion of computer engineering. Part of their response was that a plan be developed with the faculty of mathematics for simultaneous expansion in computer engineering and computer science. The implications of this increase in scope were well understood by the end of 1997. It would require extra funding from the government for start-up and annual operating and there would be a need to attract some financial support from industry. All of this was clear long before the government announced its Access to Opportunities Program and very ambitious plan to double the output of students in certain disciplines.

Concert in Davis today, and more

The physics department presents a seminar at 3 p.m. today (Physics room 308) by David Yevick of Queen's University. I hope I can get the title right: "Studies of Absorbing, Impedance-Matched and Transparent Boundary Conditions for Schrödinger-Type Equations".

And at 3:30 (Math and Computer room 5158), the statistics and actuarial science department presents Lynn Kuo, of the University of Connecticut, speaking on "A Composite Transition Model for Brand Choice and Purchase Timing Data".

News from the American west coast: teaching assistants at the University of California have gone back to work after a strike that lasted barely a week. There's no settlement yet -- the issue, whether TAs have the right to unionize and be treated as employees, won't be an easy one to compromise on -- but the university and the TAs, who are organized through the United Auto Workers, negotiated a 45-day "cooling-off period" that will at least let UC finish the semester in peace.

CAR

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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