Daily Bulletin

Chrissy Mowat, Chris Klein, Rob Legood and Erin Moffat are among the cast of thousands in FASS 2000, opening tonight.

FASS cracks up the millennium

And I don't put too much credence in the posters that say this year's show will be "The Last FASS Ever". That's the sort of thing everybody was saying just before Year 2K rolled around, with more of the same, including the 38th annual FASS production. And the arrival of the millennium is exactly what this year's FASS is all about.

"The ProFASSy" brings the end of the world, and presumably will also brings songs, jokes, ingenious special effects and ham acting. That's what FASS has been noted for ever since it began as a campus variety show when the university was barely five years old. And it's still a show for the whole campus: after all, FASS stands for Faculty, Alumni, Staff and Students.

This year's FASS happens in the Humanities Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday, 7 and 10:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $8, $6 for groups of six or more, from the Humanities box office (888-4908).

Ian Lithgow, UW's vice-president (university relations), "has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and bone cancer", the provost told the board of governors yesterday. Board members gasped. Lithgow is beginning radiation treatment and chemotherapy, the provost said: "He plans to continue his involvement with fundraising and planning for the capital campaign, but clearly his involvement will be at a significantly reduced level."

UW faces 'double cohort' pressure

The number of high school graduates looking to start university that year could be as much as 60 per cent higher than in a normal year, Kalbfleisch said, because of the "double cohort" graduating from Ontario schools. Students in the current five-year high school program and the new four-year program should be finishing together in 2003.

But with a little bit of luck, the impact of the change will be spread out and campuses will only have to cope with a 20 per cent swell in each of three or four years, the provost said.

Either way, UW and the rest of the province's universities have about three years to plan, and to provide what's needed. Besides classrooms, the challenges will include finding enough residence space, hiring faculty members for extra teaching, providing space in libraries and athletic facilities, and -- probably toughest of all -- creating hundreds or thousands more co-op jobs.

The double cohort will hit while Ontario universities are already going through a growth spurt. Indeed, "growth has started," Kalbfleisch reminded the board, pointing to a 6 per cent increase in university applications last fall and, by current estimates, a 2 to 3 per cent increase this year. The Council of Ontario Universities is estimating that total enrolment could go up by 40 per cent within a dozen years.

UW is already at 105 per cent of its "corridor midpoint", what the government considers to be this university's enrolment target, Kalbfleisch said. But growth of 15 to 20 per cent seems possible, as long as the government comes through with the money UW has asked for to put up two new buildings, and provides operating funds to pay for the education of those extra students.

"We think it really is important to protect the quality of the experience at the University of Waterloo," he said. He stressed co-op jobs again -- but "the biggest uncertainty of all is people," the new faculty and staff UW would have to hire to cope with growth in the number of students. "Faculty recruitment will be difficult," he warned.

And even the short-term future is a problem, the provost added, as the provincial government has given no indication of the level of grants or tuition fees for the coming year. The new fiscal year begins May 1.

A tuition fee freeze -- as well as more funding for post-secondary education -- is the goal of a postcard campaign being conducted by the Federation of Students, with a little help from their friends. Working on the project, which will deliver a message to the UW board of governors, are (from top) Dawn Phillips, Mark Schaan, and Heather Frederick. Students are invited to stop by the Feds office in the Student Life Centre to add their signature to a postcard.

Fee protesters out in the cold

Inspired by a CBC report of Lakehead University students camping out for the past two weeks in minus-30 temperatures in Thunder Bay to protest rising tuition fees, Julian van Mossel decided to organize a campout here. Three students camped out in the tent last night as temperatures fell to around minus-11, and another group will be crawling into their sleeping bags on the north side of Needles Hall tonight. Four tents were in place by this morning.

The students are braving the February cold to "call for the restoration of social program funding; tuition fee reductions; grants for students, not loans; and standards for education similar to those enshrined in the Canada Health Act". The action is in solidarity with the Canadian Federation of Students' national protest to demand increased funding for education, van Mossel said.

"I don't see a lot of people discussing tuition increases or taking action. We want people to consider changes in tuition in a different way than they consider changes in the weather. It doesn't just happen; it happens for a reason."

Van Mossel -- who has never gone winter camping before -- is not sure how long the campout will last. "We'll see what kind of energy we have." The important thing, he learned from the environmentalists in residence on campus this week, is to do it -- "to see action as part of the process of learning."

The talk of the campus

The front-page story in yesterday's Gazette included long excerpts from Beyond Borders, a report with proposals on increasing UW's international activity. There was a brief summary of the report in this Bulletin on January 17, and the full report is now available on the Web along with the provost's response to it.

Official word is at hand from the registrar's office: "The last day to file a Notice to the Registrar of Intention to Graduate form is March 1, 2000 for undergraduate students expecting to graduate at spring convocation. These forms are available in the Registrar's Office, second floor, Needles Hall, or from your department office. Spring 2000 Convocation dates are June 14, 2:00 p.m., Applied Health Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Independent Studies; June 15, 2:00 p.m., Arts; June 16, 2:00 p.m., Science; June 17, 10:00 a.m., Mathematics; June 17, 2:00 p.m., Engineering."

The presidential primary season is under way in the United States, and will be of special interest to some people at UW: those who are American citizens and potential voters. Among them is Jeff Shallit of the computer science department, who sends word that he maintains a web page with information on absentee voting.

Happening this afternoon: a talk in the survey research centre seminar series. Dave Kains of Metroline Research Group Inc. will talk about his firm's activities.

The urban environmental project workshop series continues tonight at the Adult Learning Centre, 185 King Street South. The session starts at 7 p.m.; the topic is "Social Justice and Environmental Equity", and speakers include Alice Nabalamba, graduate student in the planning school, and Keith Warriner, faculty member in sociology.

And the drama department's production of "Suburban Motel" continues tonight in Studio 180, the little theatre in the Humanities building; show time is 8 p.m., and tickets are available from the Humanities box office at $10, students $8.

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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