Daily Bulletin

New students meet their Waterloo

Designed to help new students avoid the culture shock of arriving on campus in September -- as well as line-ups at the bookstore and WatCard office -- Student Life 101 welcomes an expected 4,500 students and their families to a preview of campus life. That's some 50 per cent more than last year's attendance, and organizers have been busy preparing to face crowds today.

Starting at 9 a.m., displays at Federation Hall ("the largest on-campus pub in North America") and the Student Life Centre ("the living room of the university") offer visitors a chance to "meet our people", including representatives from athletics, co-operative education, distance education, the Federation of Students, food services, graphics, health services, housing, the library, and the police.

Throughout the day, special feature presentations will allow students and parents to explore topics in depth:

§ Student life at UW, a drama recreating the chronological journey through first year for the average student, from getting a WatCard, to midterms, to co-op, meeting key student services people along the way, including UW president David Johnston and Federation of Students president Christine Cheng;

§ Take the bridge to health, a chance to sample "power shakes" for an energy boost, test your health knowledge, and meet UW's professional health team;

§ Adaptive technology for students with disabilities at the Dana Porter Library's accessibility centre;

§ Co-operative education and career services, to get the co-op scoop and preview the career resources available to all students;

§ Getting off on the right foot, a new program to convey the message: "Balance is the key to success." Included are tips on study skills, as well as an introduction to recreational opportunities on campus and in the community;

§ Making the transition, a discussion of the move to university faced by new students and their families, led by someone from counselling services.

From 2 to 3 p.m., information sessions will be held in each faculty to help new students learn the basics of first year -- how to read a schedule, what to expect from classes, and how to get support from academic advisors.

Between the scheduled activities, visitors can relax at a barbecue from noon to 2 p.m. (vegetarian fare is available), buy books and parking decals, and get a WatCard. All day long, tours will be leaving from Fed Hall, with stops at athletics, housing and residences, health services, libraries and retail services.

Now in its fourth year, Student Life 101 was initiated by a student, Matt Iley, to ease the transition from high school to university. While the whole university is now involved in planning and delivering the program, students still play a key role in the process.

Melanie Hazelton and Iley, now both in their fourth year at UW, are this year's student coordinators of the event, building on their own experience, feedback from past participants, and a focus group of first-year students which met last fall to evaluate last year's Student Life 101.

Premiers urged: think universities

"Just as they focused on health care last year, it is vitally important that the premiers take a strong stand in calling for increased federal transfer payments in support of higher education this year. We also call on the premiers to commit to ensuring that additional federal transfers for postsecondary education are directed to that purpose," says Robert J. Giroux, president of AUCC.

"Between 1993 and 1998, real government support for postsecondary education dropped an average 20 percent across Canada -- a decline of more than $2,000 per student. The impact of declining government support is now obvious on our campuses -- larger class sizes, significantly fewer professors, higher student costs, declining library resources, deteriorating infrastructure and fewer international opportunities for students," says Giroux.

The letter points out that Canada is investing less in higher education, while "our competitors" are increasing their public investments in universities, and suggests that the current downward trend puts at risk the universities' ability "to continue to provide high quality, accessible education and conduct leading-edge research".

Says the letter to the premiers: "At last year's conference in Saskatoon, Premiers and Territorial Leaders unanimously agreed that restoring funding to health care through the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) arrangements should be the top priority for federal government spending, and also committed to directing additional federal funds to core health services. The federal government responded to these concerns in the 1999 budget by substantially increasing transfers to support health care. In light of the importance of a vibrant postsecondary education sector to all provinces and territories, we urge Premiers and Territorial Leaders to demonstrate similar resolve and foresight this year by assigning their highest priority to calling for increased federal transfers in support of postsecondary education and by making a commitment to direct additional federal funding to core PSE operations.

"For their part, universities recognize their responsibility to invest new operating funds in ways that address public expectations and priorities in each province."

Faculty push for early retirement

Fred McCourt writes in the faculty association's Forum that

partly because of the extensive interest in an improved early retirement scheme amongst members of both the UW Staff Association and CUPE Local 793, the presidents of the three employee groups have jointly requested that the University Pension & Benefits Committee examine the possibility of using a portion of the current pension plan surplus to improve the existing early retirement scheme in a way that all employee groups are still treated on the same footing.

The summer issue of Forum includes results from a survey of faculty members in which they comment on "an improved regular early retirement component" in the UW pension plan. "Faculty clearly find the idea attractive in principle," writes Ian Macdonald of the chemical engineering department, reporting on the survey. "Responses to the questionnaire were received from 256 faculty. . . . 241 respondents (94.1%) support having an ongoing enhanced early retirement component."

Macdonald notes that "Last year, a petition asking for an ongoing early retirement plan, which was initiated by CUPE and signed mainly by staff (though a few faculty saw and signed it as well), received about 800 signatures. Clearly, the idea of an enhanced early retirement scheme is attractive to staff also."

Last year's petition was circulated after a set of improvements to the pension plan in general, which didn't include anything specifically about early retirement, were approved.

Macdonald sums up the current situation: "The current permanent early retirement component allows any employee to retire early between the ages of 55 and 65, but with a reduced pension relative to the defined or formula pension. The reduction, which most individuals regard as a significant disincentive when considering early retirement, is one-third of 1% for each month by which the retirement age is below age 65 but above age 60, and one-half of 1% for each month by which the retirement age is below age 60."

Notes as exams continue

The department of applied mathematics offers a seminar today at 11:20, in Math and Computer room 5136: Lou Caccetta of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, will speak on "Optimization Techniques in Open Pit Mining".

The Graduate Student Association will hold "an informal townhall meeting" tonight at 6:00 in Engineering Lecture room 211. Says Daniel Piche, vice-president (operations) of the GSA. "The purpose of the meeting is to receive feedback on GSA activities and services and the Grad House, in order to assist the GSA Executive and Management in planning for the upcoming year. During this meeting, the GSA hopes to receive recommendations from its members on a number of specific issues. These will include improvements to the Grad House fee refund process as well as additional services that the GSA could provide or facilitate to better serve graduate students. Since it has been a significant topic of discussion during recent years, the status of the Grad House will also be reviewed. . . . All graduate students are invited to attend. Pizza and refreshments will be served."

A contingent of 20 people from UW will leave today to begin a three-week exploration of China's "Silk Road". The tour is offered by the continuing education office and the history department, and led by Merrill Hunsberger, who has been a sessional instructor in history specializing in China, Japan and Korea. From now through August 29, travelers will trek along the path that once transported Chinese luxury goods and spices -- as well as such Chinese inventions as paper, gunpowder and the compass -- across Central Asia to Europe. Over that same route, religious movements including Buddhism and Islam transformed belief systems and cultural values. Among the highlights of the trip will be an opportunity for travelers to attend a performance of the Beijing Opera, visit a Khazak yurt, ride camels among the sand dunes of Mingsha, and view the famous terra-cotta warriors and horses of the Qin Dynasty. Hunsberger also led a 1995 travel-study tour on "China: The Land, the People, the History".

The staff association office will be closed from today until August 23. Says office manager Barb Yantha: "To purchase discount tickets during the week of August 9 please contact either Helena Hahn, ext. 2101, or Charlene Schumm, ext. 2711; for the week of August 16 please contact Helena Hahn, ext. 2101, or Kelly Wilker, ext. 3092. For other SA related business/questions, please contact Charlene Schumm during the week of August 9, or Kelly Wilker during the week of August 16."

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Friday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1999 University of Waterloo