Stun gun lawsuit settled at Simon Fraser

Daily Bulletin

Campaign nears its end Tomorrow brings the official end of the United Way campaign on campus, and it also brings the donor draw: the winner's choice of a day off with pay or a $100 gift gift certificate for the University Club. "To be eligible," says Jenny Treutlein in the United Way office, "you must fill out your donation form and return it to the UW United Way office by Friday." As of yesterday, she said, givings and pledges had reached $97,918, which is 69 per cent of the $142,000 target. "Well done so far, everyone! $802.73 is from departmental special events, with more events to come." And a final note: "If anyone would like to have a video presentation, please contact us . . . we will be happy to make the arrangements."

Federal spending From yesterday's economic statement by federal finance minister Paul Martin: "Investing in education, research and innovation is the most significant investment Canadians can make to foster success in the new economy. Building on the investments announced in the 2000 budget, this Economic Statement proposes to: "help post-secondary students cope with the rising costs of education by doubling the amount on which the education credit is based to $400 a month from $200 for full-time students, and to $120 from $60 for part-time students." "help create world-class research facilities in universities and hospitals by providing $400 million of new funding to the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for operating costs of research."

Memo to teachers about exam cheating

The memo points them to the Exam Regulations and Related Matters document, which makes this statement:

If the Presiding Officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of academic regulations has occurred, that person shall collect all of the evidence available.

Here's what it says:

Only those items authorized for use in the examination are to be on the desk; bags, purses, knapsacks, etc. are to be kept under the desk.

Where there are reasonable grounds for believing a violation re: exam protocol has occurred, the presiding officer or proctor has authority:

1. to remove anything on the desk not authorized for use in the test/examination and keep it until student has completed the test/exam and handed in the booklet, etc., as required.
2. to look into knapsacks, bags, purses, pencil cases, etc; remove any "evidence" (this to be done in the presence of the student and another proctor); and return the knapsack, bag, purse, pencil case, etc., to be put under the student’s desk. Note: if the student requires a copy of such evidence, a copy is to be provided with the original to be retained by the presiding officer or proctor.
3. to require the student to move to a seat where the presiding officer or proctor can more easily monitor the student.
4. to ask a student to adduce "evidence" where the presiding officer or proctor believes that student has hidden it on his/her person. Note: if the student refuses, under no circumstances should the alleged offender be touched.
5. to remove answer book(s) and replace them with new ones; in all cases, student(s) are to be allowed to finish writing the test or exam.

As soon as possible following the conclusion of the test/exam, the presiding officer or proctor is expected to: make a note of the time and details (e.g., refusal to cooperate); explain to the alleged offender that the status of her/his paper is in question; identify the paper and set it aside; inform the course instructor of the circumstances, and turn over all of the evidence available. In the event that the instructor is not available, the presiding officer or proctor will inform the Associate Dean (Graduate & Research or Undergraduate) of the Faculty or Faculties concerned.

Grad students release demo game

"We have had over 100,000 downloads of our demo since it was released," says Eric Hall, one of the graduate students in the computer graphics lab who developed "Tux Racer". And that was a few days ago -- thousands more users have gone for the game since it was reviewed recently on the popular Slashdot web site.

"It is an open source game that runs on both Linux and Windows platforms," Hall says about Tux Racer, which is the first product from the student team's new business, but won't be the last. Says Hall: "Our plan is to continue development of the game as an open source product and to profit from it by selling expansion packs and advertising space. The creator of the game, Jasmin Patry, wrote the initial version of the game as a project for CS 488. He has been joined by myself, some other computer scientists and two fine arts students, all from Waterloo. We hope to develop the game to a level we consider worthy for commercial use by December."

Tux Racer can be downloaded from its own web site or various other sites. Here's the description of the game from the site: "Tux Racer lets you take on the role of Tux the Linux Penguin as he races down steep, snow-covered mountains. Enter cups and compete to win the title! Tux Racer includes a variety of options for gameplay, including the ability to race courses in fog, at night, and under high winds."

Besides Hall, team members include Jasmin Patry, the original author and now chief technology officer, working towards a master's degree in computer graphics; Mark Riddel, lead artist, who earned a BA in fine arts at UW and now works full time on the game; Rick Knowles, lead art designer, a graduate student in fine arts; Vincent Ma and Patrick Gilhuly, developers, both graduate students in the computer graphics lab; and Hall, developer and CEO, also a grad student in the graphics lab. "We all met through the computer graphics lab here at Waterloo," he notes.

Funeral is this morning A funeral service for Ian Lithgow, UW's vice-president (university relations), will be held at 10:30 this morning at Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church in Waterloo. Lithgow died Monday after some months of illness. UW flags will fly at half-staff today in his memory. Instead of flowers, the family has suggested memorial donations to the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre.

Events and notes on a busy day

"Put a Lid on It" is a campaign being launched today that encourages people who are out on social occasions to protect themselves against "date rape drugs" and other bad things by, literally, putting a lid on their drinks. Drugs can be "slipped unnoticed in drinks of unsuspecting females", says Cathy Choi of the student Wellness Centre, "which leads to many rapes and sexually aggressive incidents each year." Representatives of the Centre will be at Federation Hall today to promote lid protection; more information is available from the group at its office in the Student Life Centre, phone ext. 5951.

"Successfully Negotiating Job Offers" is a workshop offered at 10:30 this morning in the career development seminar series -- the career resource centre in Needles Hall has more information.

The Waterloo Region Residential Energy Efficiency Project (REEP), based in the faculty of environmental studies, has a noontime seminar today by Paul Parker of the geography department: "Is a 20% Cut in Residential CO2 Emissions Possible or Probable?" It starts at 12 noon in Environmental Studies I room 221, with half an hour's presentation followed by discussion.

The Anthropology Silver Medal for Academic Excellence will be awarded today to UW graduate Scott Harris, and part of the celebration is a lecture by distinguished visitor Olive Dickason, who will be receiving an honorary degree from UW on Saturday. She'll speak on "The Royal Proclamation of 1763 and Its Consequences for Canada Today", at 4:00 in Engineering Lecture room 204. A reception follows in PAS room 3005, at which this year's winner of the Sal Weaver Memorial Tuition Scholarship will be announced.

At 3:30, the physics department presents a talk by Anton Naumovets of the Institute of Physics, Kiev, on "Surface Physics and Nanophysics Studies" (Physics building room 145).

The Muslim Students' Association plans a demonstration this afternoon "to express its solidarity with the Palestinian victims of Israeli aggression over the past three weeks". Says Omar Nafees, president of the MSA: "Scores of civilians, including children, have been killed and hundreds have been wounded by Israeli armed forces using anti-tank missiles, grenades and helicopter gunships. In an effort to alleviate the suffering of civilians in the Occupied Territories of Palestine, the MSA aims to use this protest as an opportunity to raise Canadian awareness regarding the truth of the crisis in the Middle East." He says protesters will meet at the main entrance to campus, on University Avenue, at 4:30, "and individually proceed to the planned demonstration site" at the corner of University Avenue and King Street.

An information session about the master's degree program in finance in UW's school of accountancy is scheduled for 7:00 tonight in Math and Computer room 5158. "We are looking," says Amy Aldous in the accountancy school, "for bright students with strong quantitative backgrounds. Meet with faculty and hear the stories of two outstanding finance graduates."

The talk of the campus

UW's "mad scientists" take their show on the road to Westmount Public School today in advance of the science faculty's open house on Saturday. "Plugging into the science curriculum, we will illustrate the electrical, chemical and mechanical properties of common foods and materials, as well as other surprises," says organizer Scott Nicoll of the chemistry department. Among the attractions are the Frankenpickle, which glows in the dark, and a demonstration in which after swallowing liquid nitrogen a safety dummy's head rockets across the room spraying everyone with water. "We may be wearing rainbow lab coats and frying helpless pickles, but we are doing serious science," Nicoll says. The open house on Saturday (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is a free annual event aimed at primary school children and their families.

The UW visitors centre in South Campus Hall has a new coordinator, following the retirement of Gail Ruetz. She's Heather MacKenzie, who "brings to this position a wealth of experience", according to Tina Roberts, director of undergraduate recruitment. "in addition to being involved in both student and residence life and being a former student ambassador, Heather has been working in our Visitors Centre (and managing the Centre in the spring term) for the past two years."

A note from Gene Starchuk in UW's department of plant operations: "Sandi Werhof, Research In Motion's facilities/property manager, called to notify me that they will be locking the gate at the rear of the University Business Park site effective tonight. They have begun construction on their site and the gate is within the construction area. It won't be safe for use until construction is complete sometime next year, at which time they plan to re-open it. She has posted signs at the gate and on the approaches to it." The gate is beside the access road that runs from the rear of East Campus Hall to the ring road near the General Services Complex, and is often used as a pedestrian shortcut to Columbia Street.

And speaking of closed . . . there will be a traffic bottleneck on the ring road for most of the day tomorrow, at the spot near the engineering buildings where the University Avenue overpass runs above it. Roof repairs are being done on the overpass, and one lane or the other will be closed on the road below. "There will be flagpersons there to get traffic through," said Wayne Shortt of the UW police.

The tourism lecture series continues tomorrow morning with a talk by Atsuko Hashimoto of Brock University, on "Japanese Tourism and the Japanese Market" (9:30, Environmental Studies I room 350).

A blood donor clinic is scheduled for the Student Life Centre from Monday through Thursday of next week. To speed things up for donors, an appointment sign-up sheet is available now at the turnkey desk.

Keep an eye on this one: "Friday, November 3, the school of optometry will be holding a Holiday Celebration Eyewear Show from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Representatives from the most popular frame companies will be presenting their newest frame selections. Come and chat directly with the sales representatives. Select a frame from their new fall collection. Consult with the lens representatives about the new lenses that will visibly enhance your appearance. For this evening only, prices will be 10 to 50 per cent off."

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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