Daily Bulletin

On the last day of classes

But yes, today is the last day of lectures for the fall term. The English Language Proficiency Exam is scheduled for Wednesday (7 p.m. in the Physical Activities Complex), and fall exams start Thursday and continue through December 22.

December 23, which is a Thursday, is the last day UW will be open for business in 1999. Offices and services (apart from the police, the central plant and the Student Life Centre) will be closed December 24 for a ten-day break, and it's back to work on Tuesday, January 4, when the winter term begins.

News from the Vinyl Café I got to help on Friday afternoon with a draw for two pairs of tickets to the December 9 "Vinyl Café" Christmas concert at Centre in the Square in Kitchener. The contest was announced in Wednesday's Gazette, and we had a respectable number of entries by week's end. The lucky winners were Cathy Taylor, co-op education and career services, and Tony Anderson, physics. For those who don't get free tickets (or buy their own), the concert will be broadcast on Saturday, December 18, at 10 a.m. on CBC Radio Two (90.7 FM), and at noon on Sunday, December 19, on CBC Radio One (89.1 FM).

Undergraduate students who are here now, and will be back on campus in the January-to-April term, should pick up their winter schedules and fee statements on the second floor of Needles Hall, and should pay their fees no later than December 15, to avoid late charges. (Cheques for fees can be postdated to January 4, the registrar's office notes.)

This week, meanwhile, things are slowing down. Food services has already closed the Festival Room in South Campus Hall and Tim Horton's in Optometry, and today's the last day for Pastry Plus in Matthews Hall. Other outlets will be open until the end of exams (and the Festival Room reopens next week with a Christmas buffet).

Anyone thinking of facing that buffet might want to check out "Hot Tips for Holiday Eating" today. It's a noon-hour talk by Linda Barton, a nutritionist based in UW's health services. "Learn how to enjoy your favourite holiday goodies guilt-free!" she promises. "Take away recipes for good food made fast, and sample Linda's Power Shake for a quick energy boost." Gail Shellard at ext. 3665 is taking reservations.

The executive committee of UW's senate will meet at 3:30 in Needles Hall room 3004 -- to decide, among other things, whether there's enough business to justify a meeting of the full senate just a few days before Christmas. Matters in the agenda portfolio include a proposed "specialization in survey methodology", to be available to MA students in UW's sociology department.

Also today: the last meeting of the term for the Outers Club will take the form of a potluck dinner at the Graduate House, starting at 6:30.

And tomorrow brings something rather special: a talk by Marc Abrahams, editor of The Annals of Improbable Research. Abrahams will be here to give "a seminar/slide show presenting outstandingly improbable research, a surprising amount of it genuine. The talk includes highlights from the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremonies held annually at Harvard." He'll speak at 2:30 Tuesday in Davis Centre room 1302.

Window opportunity Your opinion, please, if you're a reader of this Daily Bulletin on the Web. (The question doesn't apply to Bulletin readers on newsgroups.) When you click on a hyperlink in the Bulletin, would you like it to open a new browser window, rather than appearing in the existing window as it now does? Yes, definitely Only if it's a link to a web site outside UW No Click on the Send button to send your answer to the Daily Bulletin editor. If you find that this form doesn't work for you, it may be that you don't have the necessary settings clicked and filled in under "Preferences" on your browser.

Calendar invites gifts to UW

"Your gift will help the University invest in scholarships, teaching, equipment, library resources, up-to-date learning facilities, and outstanding academic programs, thus providing the best possible opportunities for our students. You decide how to direct your support."

An enclosed list of "priority projects" touches on everything from graduate student travel to computer hardware and software for Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing. "Your contribution will help the Library enhance its collections," says one section of the list, while another mentions the Disabled Student Bursary Fund and funding for the chair in Jewish studies.

Contributions can be made by cheque, by credit card or by payroll deduction, people are told, and the brochure doesn't forget to mention the tax deductions that come with charitable donations. ("A gift to UW has a big impact at a small price.")

Oh yes, the enclosed gift. It's a cardboard desktop calendar for Year 2K, with UW holidays and pay dates marked, and a reminder that although the end of the tax year is a good time for many people to consider donations, the Keystone Fund is there year-round.

Union negotiations will resume

According to union president Neil Stewart, issues of compensation and duration of the contract were key factors in the vote against the deal in a meeting of union members. CUPE 793 represents some 300 plant operations and food services staff.

Although union members gave their negotiators a strike mandate in September, Stewart said a strike date has not yet been set.

Negotiators for both sides are heading back to the bargaining table for more talks on Friday.

Killings of 1989 remembered

The events of that Wednesday afternoon were mourned across Canada. The flag at the main entrance to UW was lowered as part of the national grief, and a memorial service was held in Federation Hall. Ten years later, the grief is still felt, and the incident is the focus for strong feelings about violence, feminism, gun control, politics, tragedy and evil.

At today's memorial, a speaker -- Peter Eglin of the department of sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University -- will reflect on those events. The service starts at 4:30 in the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building (not at St. Jerome's University, where several previous annual ceremonies have been held).

Says organizer Desiree Taric: "The ceremony will consist of candle lighting, both for the 14 women of l'Ecole Polytechnique and for women who have died of violence this year. Afterwards there will be various discussion groups people can participate in if they are inclined to do so. We are hoping to shift the focus of our ceremony a bit this year -- it is usually placed entirely on the 14 women from the Montreal massacre, but we are hoping to also concentrate on women who have died in violence in general."

She reflects on the 1989 event: "It may seem easy for some to pass this off as the independent work of a madman. Though it is certainly the case that the gunman was crazed, some of the opinions expressed in his angry suicide note are reflected in our society. . . . Misogyny rears its head every day, in large and small ways, all around us. It would also be easy, and wonderful, if we could truthfully say that the Montreal massacre was an isolated incident, but it was isolated only in that so many women were killed in such a short time. Women are killed today because of their gender and their gender alone.

"When tragedies occur, they can make work for change seem hopeless, but at the same time they can be used as platforms for learning and from which to spur ourselves into action. December 6 is a day to mourn and it is also a day to reflect upon violence and hatred directed toward women and what we can do, as individuals and as a society to reduce it."

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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