The most boring celebrities of the year

Daily Bulletin

On the picket lines Once again "Doonesbury" is right up to date. The strip's current plotline (right) deals with a teaching assistants' strike, and indeed, there's no end in sight to the strike that has cancelled many classes at York University for the past month. "We were in class for only seven weeks," laments Christie Adams in the student newspaper, Excalibur. "I keep forgetting why I'm here." Canadian Union of Public Employees local 3903, representing TAs and sessional lecturers at York, has been on strike since the end of October (picket line photo below), and no negotiations are taking place.

It's the end of another term

And right after that come the holidays. Friday, December 22, is the official last day of the fall work term for co-op students; it's also the last day of work in 2000 for most people at UW, as the university will be closed for Christmas, New Year's and the days in between. The place reopens for the winter term on Tuesday, January 2. (And students should note that the deadline for paying winter term fees is Wednesday, December 13.)

Between now and then, there are many special events and special arrangements. During exams, for example, the libraries will be open later than usual each night, until 2 a.m. in the Dana Porter Library and 3 a.m. in the Davis Centre.

Departments that have special seasonal events, or changes to their operations because of the impending holiday: please send the information over to information and public affairs (e-mail it to me if you can't find any other route) so we can publicize it in appropriate ways.

Oh, and here's a word about one holiday event that people always look forward to: the annual noontime carol-sing in the Modern Languages building lobby, conducted by Jake Willms, is scheduled for Thursday, December 14.

The rules about winter storms

Under the storm closing procedure established in 1994, UW will be "closed" for the day if the Waterloo Region District School Board cancels classes at all its schools. If only rural schools are closed, or if buses are cancelled but schools stay open, the university will remain open.

UW follows the school board's lead since it has "an effective system for evaluating weather conditions across Waterloo Region", and informing the public through the media.

Says the procedure: "The university will 'close' because of severe winter weather when normal operation would pose a significant danger to students, staff and faculty while on campus or would prevent large numbers of them from coming to campus or returning safely to their homes in Kitchener-Waterloo and the immediate surrounding area."

It also says that for the university to be "closed" means that meetings and other scheduled events are cancelled -- including exams. In addition, staff other than those employed in "essential services are not expected to be at work, but are paid for a normal day, and deadlines for assignments and other submissions are postponed until the same hour on the next business day on which the university is not "closed". The "essential services" listed are food service in the residences, policing, the central plant (powerhouse), snow removal (grounds crew), emergency repair and maintenance, and animal care.

Says the policy: "Classes will not be held during 'closed' periods, and assignment deadlines must be extended. Faculty members and academic departments do not have the authority to make exceptions to this rule."

If there is a major winter storm on a day when the schools aren't open, such as the first week of January, the closing decision will be made in the early morning by the provost. When work has already begun for the day, UW will close "only in extreme circumstances", the procedure says.

A closing of the university will be announced on the UWinfo home page. And the UW news bureau will report it to local radio stations, which have been asked to broadcast it quickly and often, "since the University of Waterloo attracts a large number of people from across the region and beyond".

Student is tops in investment challenge -- from the UW news bureau

The challenge, sponsored by Simvest Solutions, allows students to experiment with different investment strategies by trading equities and options listed on all major exchanges -- NYSE, Nasdaq, OTC Bulletin Board, AMEX, CBOE, PSE, and PHLX in the U.S.; and the Toronto Stock Exchange, Montreal Exchange and the Canadian Venture Exchange.

Annetta Dunn, a first-year arts and business student, and Cindy Leung and Alan Fernandes, both first-year math accounting students, comprised the team named 13-6. They managed to increase their $100,000 portfolio to a $240,961.94 in less than two months.

Fernandes also entered the contest individually and placed second overall, growing his portfolio to $188,801.63.

"The University of Waterloo is proud of the outstanding quality of all of its students and this first-place finish in the national competition is compelling testimony indeed," Robert Kerton, UW dean of arts, told the winners.

The competition was held from Oct. 2 to Nov. 24, with the results just announced.

Baby at work: Scene from the "infant lab" in the Centre for Child Studies, part of UW's department of psychology, which introduced its new web site last week.

Pixels in the big picture

Also with a physical flavour, here's an offer from Renison College: "For anyone interested in hearing fun Christmas music, enjoying a short break from work, laughing and at the same time exercising, join the staff at Renison every Friday before Christmas at 11:00 a.m. for 'Christmas Chair Exercises'. This fun break is led by a certified YMCA fitness instructor and is open to any staff or faculty from the colleges and university. It takes place in the Founders Building at Renison."

In downtown Kitchener this morning, Jonathan Oakman of UW's psychology department gives the last in the current series of noon-hour talks at Kitchener Public Library. His topic: "Understanding Social Anxiety".

The executive committee of the UW senate will meet at 3:30 this afternoon in Needles Hall room 3004. As it does each month, the executive committee will review the business that should be coming to the senate itself. And as it generally does in December, it'll decide whether a senate meeting is really necessary (it would be scheduled for the afternoon of December 19) or whether business can be held over until January.

I've received no information about it, but Imprint reports that there will be a Drama 102 production of James Reaney's "Handcuffs", a piece of his trilogy of Donnelly plays, at 1:30 today in "Studio 180" in the Humanities building.

Tomorrow looks like a quiet day on campus, but there are a few advance notes for Wednesday:

• The first of two noon-hour sessions by UW nutritionist Linda Barton will be offered under the title "Fighting Fat After 30? Or, Yes, You Can Eat That!" Time: 12 noon. Place; Math and Computer room 1085. The seminar (and a second one on December 13) will be presented by the Employee Assistance Program.
• The faculty association will hold its fall general meeting at 2:30 p.m. in Math and Computer room 4021.
• A memorial service recalling the "Montréal Massacre" of 1989 will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall, St. Jerome's University.

Of interest to faculty and staff member who appreciate getting paid: December's payday will, as I said the other day, be Thursday, December 21, and January's payday will, as I also said, be Friday, January 26. The cardboard calendar distributed by the Keystone Fund the other day is showing January's payday as the 24th, which "was given some time ago as a tentative date", says Sandra Hurlburt of human resources, but January 26 is in fact correct.

While we're on the subject of January: the second annual Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference is scheduled for January 25-27 at UW. The Bulletin will have more information about this national event in the next few days.

A note from the local Volunteer Action Centre: "Meals on Wheels has just added 5 new routes to respond to increased need for their service and more volunteer help is needed. Meals on Wheels volunteers use their own vehicles to deliver meals over the noon hour to seniors living in their own homes. This is a very flexible position and volunteers can deliver once a week, summers, winters or an on call basis. No minimum time commitment is required and mileage is reimbursed." For more information, 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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