Daily Bulletin

Colleges propose new building

The two institutions are joining UW in seeking support from the Ontario SuperBuild Growth Fund for two-thirds of the $7 million it will cost to consolidate library holdings in a "state-of-the-art" complex. As well as adding some 2,400 square metres of new space, 1,100 square metres of existing space in the current libraries will be freed up to provide renovated classrooms and faculty offices.

Renison College principal Gail Cuthbert Brandt sees the project as groundbreaking. "It's the first proposed joint capital project" the two schools have embarked upon, she said, as well as "the first time two colleges have sat down together to look at academic capital needs. It's also the first time that UW colleges will receive capital funding from the province." As church-related institutions (Renison is Anglican, St. Jerome's is Roman Catholic) they've traditionally looked to private sources for building funds.

The proposal grew out of talks among UW's four federated and affiliated institutions -- also including Conrad Grebel College and St. Paul's United College -- last spring. While St. Jerome's and Renison had both identified space limitations, said Brandt, the other two schools were not at the stage of having well-developed plans for expansion. That doesn't mean they'll be left out of the picture, however. Brandt said both Conrad Grebel and St. Paul's "have been highly supportive of this project, and may be involved in using the facility. We are hoping to work out some kind of sharing arrangement with them."

Plans call for the new facility -- "sitting squarely across the property line" -- to be jointly owned by St. Jerome's and Renison. In addition to the shared library, there would be computer labs for teaching and language training, an East Asian resource centre, and a lecture theatre that could also be used for music and drama.

The extra classroom space created by the new consolidated library would allow the capacity of the two schools to be increased by some 310 full-time equivalent students.

Not only students registered at Renison and St. Jerome's will benefit from the project, said Brandt. "The number of students taught is far beyond our own registrations. . . . We're literally bursting at the seams, and we can't add new faculty because there's no place to put them."

As well, she said, "the university is counting on us to be a repository of material on East Asian studies, social work, and Anglicanism." At Renison, the library is currently housed in a converted second-floor dining room. "The weight of the books is to the point where no more can be added."

Since St. Jerome's is straining to accommodate the numbers of students enrolled in its courses, especially at the first-year level, says president Michael Higgins, the main benefits of the project are additional classroom space and such features of the Learning Centre as the language labs and facilities for music, drama, and improved community access.

Higgins sees the collaboration with Renison as a worthy endeavour in "working together for the common good of the two schools, as well as the university as a whole. Such a creative integration could be a benchmark for development in the province of Ontario."

Overhanging Harbord Street in central Toronto is a giant letter O, which is supposed to be the end of "University of Toronto" some day. The sign, attached to U of T's new graduate residence, is meant to be a welcome at the campus entrance, but some neighbours say there's a hazard from falling ice, and the paperwork is flying at city hall.

Faculty association meets today

On the agenda are reports from the association's various committees; a presentation by Christine Cheng (president) and Veronica Chau (vice-president, education) of the Federation of Students, about the often controversial issue of student course evaluations; and an update on negotiations between UW and the faculty association on revisions to the Memorandum of Agreement that governs working conditions.

The agenda material includes an unusually short report from the association's most sensitive committee, AF&T (Academic Freedom and Tenure):

"The Committee have been assisting three members with concerns about how they have been treated by the University Administration. It is hoped that these matters can be resolved informally in a manner acceptable to all concerned.

"The Committee has been reviewing the draft Policies 76, Faculty Appointments, and 77, Tenure and Promotion of Faculty Members, which will replace University Policies 46, Promotion of Faculty Members, and 53, Faculty Appointments and Tenure."

The membership committee reports that this fall the association has 468 members, out of 750 people who are eligible. Participation is highest in the faculty of arts, at 69 per cent, and lowest in math, at 53 per cent. The campus-wide figure is 62 per cent, exactly what it was eighteen months ago, before it became compulsory for faculty members to pay "dues or equivalent" to the association.

"As everyone knows," the membership committee writes, "the adoption of the Memorandum of Agreement and the acceptance of the Rand Formula has altered somewhat our situation compared to the beginning of 1998. It remains the case, however, that membership in the Association is voluntary, and those who are contributing through the Rand Formula but have not formally joined the Association are not eligible to participate in the affairs of the Association."

Studying and working abroad

Says Lango: "The first part of the session, from 2 to 4, includes general information and presentation, and the second half, from 4 to 5:30, is a question/answer/social participation, where students can meet other students who have returned from exchanges or meeting students from host countries, while enjoying some pizza and soft drinks."

She said her office has sent out notices to students whose names were sent to her by the co-ordinators of the various exchange programs. "However, we may have missed some."

Today's session, she said, "is compulsory for all students who will be leaving on exchange/work/research/field trip in the new year. Students were also informed to come to the office to pick up an information package from me, in order to get familiar with the material we'll be covering. There are also forms that they will be required to fill out and sign prior to their departure."

UW has formal exchange programs with universities in all parts of the world. The engineering faculty alone lists 32 programs, from Tottori in Japan to Paderborn in Germany and Ljubljana in Slovenia.

Noon concert in Davis The University Choir, Chamber Choir and Chapel Choir will get together today, as they do on a noon-hour every December, for a concert in an unusual venue: the great hall of the Davis Centre. "At the conclusion of the program," writes director Leonard Enns, "we will include several traditional Christmas carols and invite audience participation. The programme will be 45 minutes, beginning at 12:15 p.m." Departments from plant operations (which will shut off the fans in the area) to the library (which will try to keep the doors from banging) have been enlisted to help make the event a success. Everyone is welcome.

And a couple of other things (well, 4)

The Ontario Ballet Theatre will perform "The Nutcracker", chiefly for school groups, at 1:00 and7:30 today (and again tomorrow) in the Humanities Theatre.

It may be just a tad early, but food services will be providing turkey and the other features of Christmas dinner in the Village I cafeteria (Mudie's) and Ron Eydt Village this evening. Elsewhere, entries include a quesadilla at Brubaker's in the Student Life Centre.

Hot and cold soft water will be turned off in the PAS (Psychology) building tomorrow from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, the plant operations department says, as work is done on the pipes for a new first-floor laboratory.

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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