Daily Bulletin

An open house at the Federation of Students offices on Friday attracted staff and faculty members as well as students to meet the Feds leaders and volunteers. Desiree Taric, vice-president (student issues) of the Federation, shows off the student handbook to Tom Galloway, UW's director of custodial and grounds services.

An extra 1 per cent for staff

He said he'll recommend to the board of governors (which meets on June 6) that "an additional across the board increase be awarded to staff members, based on April 30, 2000 salaries".

Staff salary scales were already increased by 1 per cent as of May 1, with individual pay increases depending on each person's performance appraisal and position above or below the "job value". The additional increase announced yesterday means that pay scales for 2000-01 are 2 per cent higher than they were for 1999-2000.

A staff member whose individual increase was to be 1.5 per cent will now get 2.5 per cent. A staff member whose increase was to be 2.3 per cent will now get 3.3 per cent.

Housekeepers and janitors, who are paid on a flat rate system, will get an extra 1 per cent as well, making their May 1 increase 2 per cent altogether.

The new increases were recommended by the provost's advisory committee on staff compensation, chaired by Catharine Scott, associate provost (human resources and student services). The committee met yesterday morning at the request of the staff association, following the news that faculty salary scales are going up by 2 per cent, also retroactive to May 1.

Says a report from the committee to the provost:

On May 2nd, the Government of Ontario tabled its budget for the fiscal year 2000-01. This budget contained provisions that resulted in more funding for UW than was previously believed would be available. In addition, a recent arbitrator's decision will result in a 2% scale increase for faculty salaries. . . .

The Committee continues to be unsatisfied with available funding and again calls upon the Province to increase funding for Post-Secondary Education.

'An important way of expressing our pride'

"Your gift provides our Faculties and Colleges with essential resources to continue enhancing their programs and facilities," says one of the letters going across campus from the co-chairs of the Keystone Fund. It tells donors that "the Keystone Fund is an important way of expressing our pride in UW and all that we have achieved together."

Keystone packets are being sent to about 3,800 people, says Bonnie Oberle of UW's development office. Last year, 817 people responded, giving the university just about $500,000, with participation rates of 44 per cent for faculty, 15 per cent for staff, 33 per cent for retired faculty and 11 per cent for retired staff.

A big emphasis this year (and every year) is money for scholarship endowments. Says Oberle: "These funds help to increase the number and value of scholarships on our campus, helping to attract the very best students and encouraging them to maintain academic excellence." Last year, Keystone Fund donors provided $154,359 for scholarship endowments.

But there are dozens of other things donors can support -- library materials, teaching equipment, the math faculty's tutorial centre, construction of the planned new Centre for Environmental and Information Technologies, a Theatre of the Arts endowment fund, various lecture series, even sports teams.

"Your contribution to the Annual Fund really makes a difference," says a brochure that goes out with the Keystone appeal. It illustrates some of the things that are happening at UW thanks to gifts from staff, faculty, retirees and others. Donors are being told: "Your participation, like the gifts from alumni, students, and parents, sets an example for corporations, foundations, and individuals outside of the University. Others will be inspired to support UW because of the strong commitment from the campus 'family'."

Admission averages varied widely

It lists minimum averages of students who were admitted to each of 40 fields of study, and also indicates what other factors were considered and what kind of marks were needed for a student to receive an entrance scholarship.

Students applying to kinesiology, for example, might be accepted with marks in the mid 70s ("mid to high 70s" for co-op programs) but wouldn't be considered for a scholarship unless they had an average of at least 87. "Particular attention was paid," a note says, "to performance in the OAC prerequisites, Calculus, Chemistry and Physics."

Programs in the science faculty mostly required high school marks in the "mid 70s", but in most cases it would take an average well above 90 to produce a scholarship offer. In mathematics, "scholarships are based on many factors," the guidance counsellors are told, and students could get into most programs with marks in the mid to high 80s "and a minimum Descartes Score of 40".

The programs hardest to get into were in the engineering faculty, where it took marks in the "low to mid 90s" for admission to computer, electrical or systems design engineering. Some other fields of engineering were accepting students with marks in the low 80s.

A high school average in the low 70s would typically bring acceptance into arts regular programs, the chart shows.

Thousands of high school students are receiving their yes-or-no answers from UW this week, as well as offers of scholarships and residence rooms, and have until June 7 to say whether they're coming to Waterloo in September.

Notes as May turns toward June

A luncheon to launch the Leave a Legacy program at UW is being held at noontime today in the Laurel Room of South Campus Hall. Leave a Legacy is "an initiative to increase public awareness about the importance of leaving a legacy for the charities important to you and your family", says Pat Cunningham in the development office, who can be reached at ext. 5413 to provide more information about planned giving to UW (or last-minute information about lunch).

The InfraNet Project presents a seminar today by Hubert Saint-Onge, a senior vice-president of Clarica, under the title "Knowledge and E-Business: A Complementary Future". "As we learn to leverage emergent business networks," says Saint-Onge, "we will find that knowledge creation is the key contribution of networks. One of the key outcomes of this new organizational configuration will be a new form of collective 'knowing'." He'll speak at 2:30 in Davis Centre room 1302.

In an event tonight sponsored by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, Native American political activist Jean Day will discuss the ongoing, nationwide campaign to gain freedom for Leonard Peltier, serving a life sentence in Leavenworth prison for killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Peltier has been declared a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Says a news release from WPIRG:

Despite key evidence pointing to his innocence -- including falsified testimony supplied by FBI-coerced witnesses and a missing ballistics test -- Leonard Peltier remains incarcerated. . . . In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota to protest the ongoing repression of their peoples. The US government responded with military force. The siege ended only after members of Congress promised hearings to investigate the claims of maltreatment. But the hearings never took place. Instead, for the next two years the people of the Pine Ridge Reservation endured what is now referred to as the "Reign of Terror," during which at least 64 AIM members were murdered, and scores of others were beaten and harassed. . . . On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents in an unmarked car chased a small pick-up truck on to a private ranch where some AIM members were encamped. A cross fire of shooting broke out and in the end two FBI agents and one Native American youth lay dead. Mr. Peltier, one of several high level AIM leaders present, would ultimately be scapegoated by the FBI. . . . Ms. Day, a member of Ho-Chunk nation, was active in AIM during the "Reign of Terror" and saw many of her friends and family killed and disappeared. Though silenced in the past due to fear of the FBI following through with its threats to her and her family, she is now prepared to speak out and share the truth about the mistreatment she and many others have had to live with for so long.

Looking ahead to tomorrow: the bookstore, the UW Shop and Techworx in the Student Life Centre will close early, at 3 p.m., on Wednesday.

And what's not happening tomorrow: a previously announced "Research Review on Modeling and Simulation" from Communications and Information Technology Ontario has been postponed until next fall.

Engineering alumni from 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995 will be back on campus this Saturday for reunions. There are separate programs for the older and younger grads, including a special reception for the 1975 and 1980 veterans, hosted by UW president David Johnston.

The Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology -- LT3 -- is settling into its new quarters on the third floor of the Dana Porter Library, and will hold opening celebrations next week. A by-invitation reception is scheduled for Tuesday, June 6, right after the summer meeting of UW's board of governors. then on Wednesday, June 7, from 3 to 5 p.m., there will be an open house to show off the centre, and especially its Flexible Learning Experience (FLEX) lab. Says LT3 director Tom Carey: "This will include demonstrations of projects underway with faculty across campus and more information on opportunities to work with LT3." The FLEX lab is described as "a room with laptop computers and reconfigurable furniture which can be arranged to fit a wide range of learning and teaching needs".

I mentioned in the Bulletin some weeks ago that the new research office web site would include online forms to make life easier for researchers. Now ready, according to Susan Sykes, director of research ethics and grants, is an online version of Form 101, the form necessary for all students and faculty to complete when applying for ethics clearance for conducting research involving human participants. The new online form eases the application process, she says, by allowing applicants to work on their application from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. Applicants can cut and paste information from prior documents into the form, as well as reusing previous online Form 101 applications by creating editable copies right on the site."

Here's a note from Ted Harms, a volunteer with the UW bike centre: "Thanks to everyone that came out to the Bike Centre's auction during Thursday lunch. Under the keen eye of auctioneer Bill Hancock, over $1,000 was raised for the Bike Centre. We'll hopefully have another auction early in the fall term."

Wendy Irving in the school of optometry is looking for help on behalf of students there: "A parcel addressed to Suzanne Moore at the University of Waterloo arrived in early April via Purolator and has since gone missing. The brown box contains 55 blue and white paperback books entitled "Primer for the Humphrey Field Analyzer". The parcel is very important and should have been delivered at the School of Optometry. Although received at the university, it was mistakenly sent to another department and from there has gone missing." If you might have seen the missing package, Irving would be very glad to hear from you -- phone ext. 3178 or e-mail wirving@sciborg.

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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