Daily Bulletin

Thursday, January 15, 1998

University of Waterloo • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

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Plans revealed for SCH

Plans to rebuild the front of South Campus Hall, sometimes described as the main entrance to campus, are made known in a fine-print ad aimed at architects and published in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record yesterday. The letter calls for "letters of interest from architectural firms" who would like to design the changes.

It says:

Phase one, with a total budget of $100,000, is to reconfigure the stairs to provide a barrier free walkway along the Ring Road and a more inviting stairway. Construction is planned for the summer of 1998.
Phase two, with a total budget of $500,000, is to complete the design for an atrium type enclosure for the stair to provide for a sheltered entrance to the new stairway and the construction of a passenger elevator. Construction will be at a later date when funds are made available.

The SCH stairs lead from the University Avenue road entrance to campus up to the building itself -- which houses the bookstore and the visitor centre, among other services. Hundreds of pedestrians each day make the trip up from parking lots A, C. and H and the Kitchener Transit bus stops, through the building and onto the "pedestrian spine" walkway that leads to other parts of the campus. When SCH was built in 1967, it was placed so close to the Ring Road that a full sidewalk in that area has never been possible.

Senate considers policy on files

A proposed new UW policy on "Official Employment Files of Regular Faculty Members" is on the agenda for approval by UW's senate next week.

The policy, drafted over several months by the faculty relations committee, is dated October 9. It also needs board of governors approval, which will presumably come at the board's February 3 meeting.

Policy 75, as it will be called once approved, begins by explaining that "A faculty member's Official File is the collection of documents relevant to her/his employment at the University of Waterloo. It includes documents related to initial appointment, reappointment, tenure, promotions, leaves of absence, and annual performance reviews. It may also include letters of commendation or complaint, and routine information concerning salary, benefits, etcetera. . . . Part of the File shall be kept in the Office of the Dean of the Member's Faculty, part shall be located in the Office of the Chair of the Member's Department, and part (information for pension, benefits, payroll) shall be located in the Department of Human Resources."

Among the provisions of the five-page policy:

All formal documents and materials (except for copies of books, articles, or other similar materials) used in arriving at a decision regarding a Member in any official review or proceeding (other than grievance and arbitration proceedings) shall be considered to be part of the File. . . .
No anonymous, undated, or unsigned material shall be placed in the File. . . .
The Member may challenge the inclusion of any item in the File. . . . The Member has the right to have added to the File, at any time, additional relevant material, including her/his written comments on the accuracy or meaning of any items in the File.
Except as specified in Appendix A, disciplinary letters shall not be used as evidence against a Member for any purpose whatsoever, when no further disciplinary measures have been imposed on her/him for two subsequent academic years. . . .
Signed confidential letters of reference received in relation to initial appointment, reappointment, promotion, tenure or continuing appointment shall not be shown to the Member except where access is provided under another University of Waterloo Policy. . . . The Member shall have access to all material in the File, except as specified above. . . .
[Appendix A:] The University may retain a disciplinary letter and the documentation supporting it if the grounds for discipline included harassment, discrimination, or other verbally, physically or psychologically abusive behaviour by the Member. Where a disciplinary letter and supporting documentation is retained [for that purpose], the material shall be placed in a sealed file kept in the office of the Provost.

Solar car project continues

Midnight Sun IV, which finished seventh in the Sunrayce last summer, is seen as it was proudly shown off at Toronto's Exhibition grounds in July. What's next for Midnight Sun? Construction of UW's fifth solar car, in time to take part in the next Sunrayce, in June 1999. "We're looking into tweaking the current car," says team leader Steve Burany, who adds that the crew is "shooting for a first-place finish" this time.

"We need help from every single person on and off campus!" he says -- no small ambition. Anybody interested is invited out to the first Midnight Sun general meeting for this term, to start at 6 tonight in Davis Centre room 1302. People who can't make the meeting can call ext. 2978 or e-mail mail@midnightsun.uwaterloo.ca to get involved.

Students talk about co-op

As the job application season begins -- that was quite a crowd in front of the Needles Hall bulletin boards yesterday afternoon -- the Students Advising Co-op group will hold its first winter term meeting today, starting at 5:30 in NH room 1029. "We will be introducing everyone and reviewing the goals and purpose of SAC, discussing activities that have to take place throughout the term, and introducing issues that must be dealt with this term," says Graham Crate, chair of SAC for this term.

He provides some detail:

Students Advising Co-op acts as a liaison between students and the co-op department. We present the opinions of students to Co-op and follow up on these issues. We offer input on policies, policy changes, office practices, and any "hot topics" as viewed by Co-op students.
This term, issues will centre around the implementation of a new computer software system to automate the whole co-op process, from resume writing and submission to rankings and job offers. SAC will act as a test group and a feedback forum.
We need artistic talent to help with our Family Tree project. We have the go ahead from Co-op and a prototype of a family tree of the Co-op system, that was designed to assist students in finding the information that they are looking for. This will be a priority project this term.
Another priority project requires marketing skills (on a zero budget). SAC needs people who are willing to work hard on promoting SAC and making Co-op and regular students alike aware of what SAC does for the University.

If you can't make it to the first meeting, and still want to help out, you can reach SAC at fedsac@watserv1.

And on the fifth day . . .

For different reasons, yesterday's Gazette announced two unrelated events as happening Wednesday when they're actually happening today. Our apologies, and here's the correct information.

"Dissembling Structures: A Survey of Judith Schwarz Sculpture 1989-1997" is opening in the Artspace gallery of East Campus Hall. The show, organized and circulated by UW's own art gallery, will run through February 20. An opening reception, starring the artist herself and the president of UW, is scheduled for 5:00 this afternoon in ECH.

The United Church chaplaincy at UW is putting out an invitation "to all UW students for the opportunity to meet others and gather ideas about what the United Church should be doing on our campus". Pizza is provided. The gathering is from 5:30 to 6:30 today in the board room at St. Paul's United College, says chaplain Paul Ellingham. For information, he's at 747-5602.

Happening today, and fortunately announced correctly: An open meeting about the report of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Orientation, which was issued late in the fall term, begins at 12 noony in the multipurpose room of the Student Life Centre.

More notes about winter

When the white stuff falls, as it does today, it's good to hear the scrape of snow shovels on stairways, paths and loading docks around campus. Most of them are wielded by students and other part-timers, as the full-time grounds crew concentrate on operating snowplows and other heavy machinery. The job pays $8.10 an hour. Anybody interested in some paid work, any morning when it snows, should report at 7:30, ready to work, to the grounds crew area in the General Services Complex (inside the quadrangle near the smokestack). Shovels are provided, says grounds director Tom Galloway.

The universities of Montréal have set next Monday as the back-to-class day; some staff are expected back to work sooner than that. Concordia University says its February reading period will be cancelled to make up for the lost week of classes. From the message on the McGill University web home page this morning:

Since the beginning of the crisis, McGill's physical management workers have successfully diverted what little power there is to maintain heat in most buildings, thus reducing the risk of the frozen pipes bursting. Also, Security service employees have worked around the clock to prevent break-ins and thefts. Buildings and libraries on the downtown campus remain closed. Emergency access to offices and labs must be cleared through Security services (398-4555). Like other Montreal-area citizens, members of the McGill community are beginning to feel frustration at the slow pace of hydro repairs. However, every effort is being made on both McGill campuses to return things to normal.

It'll be some time before everything is "normal" in southern Québec and eastern Ontario, though, following last week's ice storm. The University of Guelph's Kemptville College, south of Ottawa, is still serving as a shelter for people without hydro and heat. But classes are resuming today at Queen's University in Kingston.

The UW distance education office says exams that were cancelled last weekend in nine storm-hit cities will go ahead this Saturday in six of the nine, including Kingston and Ottawa. Final exams for fall term courses are postponed for at least another week in Montréal, Cornwall and Smiths Falls. "Students unable to attend the exam sessions on January 17 will be contacted for information regarding their circumstances," says Avril McVicar in the distance ed office.

Distance students, meanwhile, are beginning their winter term work, and she also has this note: "Students in the storm area who are taking winter courses and are concerned about meeting assignment deadlines are being asked to complete their assignments as soon as possible and include a note with their assignments explaining their circumstances. The first assignment due date is January 28."

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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