Daily Bulletin

94% of faculty vote yes

Votes were counted in the university secretariat at the end of the day. A total of 682 ballots had been distributed, and 414 were returned, says Tracy Dietrich of the secretariat staff. That's a little more than a 60 per cent turnout from eligible faculty members.

Of those returned ballots, 388 were in support of the Memorandum of Agreement and 26 were opposed. In other words: yes 93.7 per cent, no 6.3 per cent.

With endorsement from faculty members, the Memorandum goes to the UW board of governors for ratification on Monday.

Subject to that ratification, the Memorandum establishes the faculty association as representative of regular faculty members (whom it already represents) and part-timers who have at least 50 per cent of a full load. Negotiations are to begin next fall on having the association represent professional librarians as well.

Among the Memorandum's many sections are a set of rules on discipline of faculty members, something that hasn't existed before; a revised grievance procedure; and changes to the salary negotiation procedure, replacing an internal "chair" (who later becomes a final offer selector) with an external arbitrator. Approval of the Memorandum will mean an end to Policy 63 (faculty grievances), the section of Policy 53 (tenure) that deals with dismissal, and much of Policy 33 (ethics); UW's ethics committee wold be abolished.

Today it's convocation for arts

Honorary degree recipients for today:

• Emil Fackenheim, retired University of Toronto professor of philosophy now associated with the Institute for Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one of the most important Jewish philosophers of this century;
• John Meisel, political studies, Queen's University, a pioneer in the behavioural study of elections and political parties in Canada and a former chair of the Canadian Radio-Television and Communications Commission.

And David Hartry, who was chaplain at Renison College from 1975 to 1992, will be made an Honorary Member of the University, with one of those green ribbonlike stoles to symbolize the distinction. A page in the convocation program says a few words about him:

He chaired the UW Chaplains' Association, the Advisory Board of the Student Christian Movement, and the Board of Directors of the University Club. . . . He also sat on the University's Student Life Committee. . . . Not content to confine his energies to the University campus, Canon Hartry was active in volunteer work in the local community, most notably with the Sunbeam Rehabilitation Centre and the YMCA of Kitchener-Waterloo. During his many years at Waterloo, Canon Hartry touched the lives of thousands of students from every faculty of the University. He was highly regarded not only for his genuine interest in students, but for his great wit and vivacity.

Laser surgery clinic opens

"Computer-controlled pulses of cool laser light are applied to delicately reshape the curvature of the eye," says TLC publicity, explaining the most common procedure, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). It says the company has "the most advanced technology in refractive procedures -- using the excimer laser to correct common vision disorders such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. The company also has interests in secondary care facilities, managed care, buying groups and information technology as part of an integrated approach to eye care health. TLC, in partnership with more than 6,000 affiliated eye doctors -- including both optometrists and ophthalmologists -- has unparalleled clinical expertise and is recognized as the largest laser vision correction provider in North America."

So far, the TLC presence at UW consists of one person, ophthalmic technician Beth Hahn, who's based in a first-floor room in the optometry clinic. A second staff member is being hired and there will likely be four by later this year, Hahn says.

Patients are referred to TLC by their optometrists, or by UW's own optometry clinic. "They go through the entire consultation process with us," Hahn explains, and if laser treatment seems appropriate, they travel to TLC's clinic in London, ntario, for the actual surgery. "The hope is that we will get a laser here eventually," Hahn said.

Starting at the end of June, optometry students will spend some time at the laser surgery clinic as part of their "rotation" through UW's clinics, learning various branches of their profession.

An honour, a correction, and more

Yesterday's Gazette, noting the death of library staff member Olivia Ting earlier this month, said that she is survived by "a sister, Che Tat Ng of Waterloo". It's the other way around: Olivia Ting was sister to Che Tat Ng, who is male, and who is a faculty member in UW's department of pure mathematics. Her survivor in Hong Kong is also a brother, not a sister.

Mathematician William Kahan, who will be receiving an honorary degree on Saturday, will give a talk in the Davis Centre this afternoon (3:30 p.m., room 1302) on "How Java's Floating-Point Hurts Everyone Everywhere". Those of us who dabble in web page creation, but still haven't learnt how to do anything with Java, can only marvel of course, as the likes of Kahan discuss "five gratuitous mistakes" in the way Java does its calculations: "Linguistically legislated exact reproducibility is at best mere wishful thinking," he says.

The Centre Stage Dance Studio has a recital in the Humanities Theatre again tonight (7 p.m.).

And . . . if you're open to some entertainment off campus in the next few days, may I recommend the Kitchener-Waterloo Little Theatre's production of "Charley's Aunt". I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that its picture of student life at Oxford in the 1890s has a shred of truth in it, but the play (by Brandon Thomas, and directed for KWLT by Anita Kilgour) is 106 years old and as funny as ever. It continues tonight through Sunday, and June 4-7, at 9 Princess Street East; call 886-0660 for tickets.

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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