Daily Bulletin

Joint journalism program ends -- by Barbara Elve

In place since 1993-94, the journalism option offered UW students a chance to earn the Conestoga diploma in an accelerated one-year program at the college after having completed prerequisite courses at Waterloo.

This past January, the Ontario education ministry told the college to discontinue its five-semester print journalism program and to replace it with a three-year print and broadcast program, which college officials decided would be more difficult to offer UW students on an accelerated basis.

Says Morgan: "The decision was made for us by Conestoga College. We were quite disconcerted at the fact this was really a fait accompli before we had an opportunity to influence it either way. Although it was a Conestoga problem, it was a joint program."

A meeting was held in April between UW and Conestoga representatives. Although Conestoga offered to consider some form of new agreement with the university, "after some discussion, we felt there were probably not enough students involved to warrant a new joint agreement," said Morgan.

In retrospect, he said, the program was never successful in meeting its original aims, which involved training university science students to communicate about their field to a larger audience. The program attracted few science students, with most prospective journalists coming from the arts faculty.

As well, of the sixty UW students who started the program over the years, the completion rate was only about 20 per cent. While the joint program required that UW students complete five term courses in statistics, philosophy and computer science to gain admission to the special accelerated program, University of Western Ontario students were admitted to the same program at Conestoga without having the prerequisites, since no agreement was in place with that university, said Morgan.

That situation didn't sit well with students who had slogged their way through stats and microeconomics to gain entry, he added.

As for the five UW students currently enrolled in the print journalism program, "Conestoga has assured us that they will be looked after in the best possible way." Also in the works at Conestoga is a new accelerated journalism program that may be offered to post-degree students starting in September 2000.

UW's monthly 'garage sale'

"I've got enough here to set up another two sales," says Ed Goodwin, jack-of-all-trades in central stores, who sets up the sales on the first Wednesday of each month. Today's the day; the sale runs from 11:30 to 1:30 at central stores in East Campus Hall (off Phillip Street).

The flow of surplus equipment "has tripled" since the early retirement program in 1996, says Goodwin. "Everybody's replacing everything" as departments reorganize, he says. Old computers are being put aside for new ones, old office furniture is being replaced with new modular workstations, and so on.

Some of the computers in today's sale are "older Apple equipment", but most of what's available is in the IBM-PC category, "486 and older, nothing into the Pentium range". Goodwin predicts that "by the fall, I'll be into the Pentiums", as still newer machines arrive on campus desktops and the old ones are made surplus. He sells 486 machines for as little as $100, monitor and mouse included (but with no software).

Also offered in today's sale is a supply of what Goodwin calls "commercial custodial equipment", such as used vacuum cleaners and floor polishers. The plant operations department "replaces so much a year", he explains, "so the repair cost is a lot less." But machines that would start to be a repair problem at UW, where they're in use all night every night, could be a bargain for lighter use: "For the average joe, they might get five or six years out of it yet!"

Special request from Goodwin: don't call him to ask whether such-and-such will be in the surplus sale. On sale days, and what with all the other work of the central stores department, he's too busy to answer the phone.

Concert, convocation, correction

Holding spring convocation in mid-June, rather than at the end of May, "did not adversely affect attendance", says registrar Ken Lavigne. "In fact, we think that more grads attended this year than in the past." Precise figures are expected soon. Meanwhile, he's trying to make sure everybody knows that convocation will be at a similar time next year; some publications, written a long time back, are showing incorrect, earlier dates. Spring convocation 2000 will be on June 14 (applied health studies, ES and independent studies), 15 (arts), 16 (science), and 17 (math in the morning, engineering in the afternoon). Meanwhile, fall convocation 1999 will be held Saturday, October 23.

In yesterday's report on the Ca*net3 computer network, some statistics on the volume of network use were a little mangled. Roger Watt of the information systems and technology department says UW has been using about 1.6 megabits per second (not 0.3 Mbps) of its 5 Mbps CA*net link lately. (As noted, UW has two off-campus links, with a total capacity of 15Mbps.) The Tri-Universities Group of libraries account for something less than 0.3 Mbps on a typical day.

The Graduate Student Association holds its beach party today at the Graduate House -- starting at noon and carrying on well into the evening. "Activities," says GSA vice-president Stephanie Faint, "will include a volleyball tournament, some croquet, a water balloon toss, frisbee, maybe a wading pool, and other beachy activities. Bring your beach towel and your sunglasses." She's promising "prizes and some great summer music" for graduate students and their friends who come by, and barbecues at lunchtime and dinnertime. Tickets are $5, including the price of a regular or veggie burger.

Also today . . . author James King will be reading from his new novel Faking at the bookstore at 2 p.m.; all are welcome.

The career development seminar series continues. Today at 1:30, it's "Career Research Package"; tomorrow at 10:30, it's "Interview Skills: Preparing for Questions". Both sessions will take place in Needles Hall room 1020. The career resource centre can provide more information.

The local Volunteer Action Centre has a couple of unusual opportunities listed this week. First, wanted are volunteers for the Global Inline Hockey Festival, to be held here July 16-25, people to "greet teams, help at the gate with ticket and program sales, set up and take down, be scorekeeper or announcer or assist with receptions". Second, "enthusiastic, creative volunteers re needed to help promote literacy and fun reading for children at various festivals this summer. Read, tell stories to children, hand out prizes, set up displays or be a Booker Bear!" Interested? The VAC can be reached at 742-8610.

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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