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Daily Bulletin

Benefits open meetings this week

Meetings will be held Wednesday at 3 p.m. (Physics room 145) and 9 p.m. (Arts Lecture room 116) and Thursday at 9 a.m. (Davis Centre room 1302).

Members of the P&B committee Sandra Burt, Faculty Association Tom Corcoran, Board of Governors David Geffros, CUPE Local 793 Jay Howard, Retiree’s Association Dennis Huber, Associate Provost, General Services & Finance Cathie Irwin, Board of Governors Jock Mackay, Faculty Association Catharine Scott, Associate Provost, Human Resources & Student Services Don Strickler, Federated & Affiliated Colleges Marius Van Reenen, Staff Association Gary Waller, Associate Provost, Academic & Student Affairs Jim Kalbfleisch, Vice-President, Academic & Provost and Chair of the Committee Trenny Canning, Secretary to the Committee David Dietrich, Resource Person to the Committee

Says a memo from the committee: "The University of Waterloo, like other organizations, is experiencing very large cost increases for extended health care and dental benefits. Last year premiums increased by 20% for extended health and 10% for dental, and this year the proposed additional increases were 32.8% and 16.5%, respectively. These increases were reduced to 22% and 13.7% by renewing for only eight months, but further increases are likely at the next renewal in January 2001. Even without further increases, the costs in 2000-01 will be about $6.8 million, which is $2 million higher than in 1998-99.

"The premiums paid by the University for health and dental benefits are equal to the total claims paid plus an administrative charge. Although insurance companies administer the plans, ultimately the University pays for each claim submitted.

"Unfortunately, University revenues are increasing much more slowly than benefit costs! Our basic operating grant was cut significantly in 1993 and 1996 as Ontario governments reduced deficits and cut taxes. Despite strong efforts to persuade the government to reinvest in universities, these cuts have not been restored, and since 1996 our basic operating grant has not even kept pace with inflation. The other major source of operating income is tuition fees, and this year the government capped tuition fee increases for most programs at 2% per year for five years. In this funding environment, continuing double-digit cost increases for benefits are not sustainable.

"The Board of Governors Pension & Benefits Committee has responsibility for administering our insured benefit programs. The Committee has been working with consultants to identify measures that would limit future cost increases to manageable levels but still maintain strong extended health and dental benefits.

"Out of many possibilities considered, the Committee has identified three that it believes will have the least impact on the quality of health and dental care available to Plan members:

• Cap the drug dispensing fee covered by the Plan at $6.00. Pharmacies charging low dispensing fees will be identified, and members will be able to avoid extra costs by using a pharmacy that charges $6.00 or less.
• Eliminate coverage for semi-private hospital rooms. OHIP pays for semi-private coverage if the doctor declares it to be medically necessary.
• Pay for dental recall exams every 9 months instead of every 5 months. There is no clinical evidence that supports any one interval of recall exam, and many other dental plans specify 9 months.

"These savings, while significant, represent only a small portion of the $2 million in cost increases that have already occurred over the past two years; they do not deal with future cost increases. Additional changes will be needed, and the Committee is discussing strategies for the longer term. One possible solution might be to ask employees to pay part of future cost increases through premium sharing. The Committee has also been considering a flexible benefits plan, which would allow members to choose the benefits they want from a range of possible coverages.

"Maintaining strong extended health and dental plans is important to us, and we welcome your input and advice. We encourage you to attend one of the public meetings. . . . Written comments may be sent to the Committee Secretary, Trenny Canning, in the Secretariat (tcanning@uwaterloo.ca)."

Engineers Without Borders will meet

The evening consists of a presentation about "Technological Developments in Developing Countries' by Bob Hudspith, director of the Engineering and Society programme at McMaster University.

Says EWB organizer Greg Powell: "This is part of the awareness portion of the mission of Engineers Without Borders. The other two foci of the organization are research and awareness. The research component includes students' research, either for credit (such as fourth-year research projects) or simply out of interest, as well as research done by professors. The internships include positions during co-op terms working with non-governmental organization in developing countries.

"While the internships are targeted at those with the technical background associated with engineering, there is great opportunity for anyone to get involved. All are welcome!"

Universities see financial hope

As a result, says a statement from the Council of Ontario Universities, the institutions "look forward to working in partnership with members of the Task Force in the coming months".

According to Paul Davenport, chair of COU and president of the University of Western Ontario, "It is widely recognized that Ontario is on the verge of the greatest surge in demand for postsecondary education in more than 30 years, with a projected increase of close to 90,000 students seeking admission to Ontario universities by the end of this decade. There is no doubt that the surge in enrolment will call for significant public investment. The Task Forces findings should provide the Government and Ontario taxpayers with confidence that substantially increased funding is necessary to enable universities to provide quality education to a growing number of students."

COU notes that all universities "have had to question continually established ways of operating and have restructured their faculties and course offerings".

Through COU, it says, universities "collaborate extensively in areas such as admissions processing, inter-university mail and joint purchasing where money is being saved for all participants. The restructuring efforts of Ontario universities provide several best practice cases on which the Task Force will be able to draw."

Recent initiatives, COU said, include the Ontario Digital Library initiative, automated transcript processing, student information programs, the Ontario College-University Degree Completion Accord, and a variety of partnerships with industry. It added: "Ontario universities expenditures on general administration are the lowest in Canada when expressed as a percentage of total funding."

The talk of the campus

Monthly draws continue in the Dollars for Scholars raffle -- there are two more in this year's raffle, on October 18 and November 15. Winner of the September 20 draw, I'm told, was Susan Akelaitis, who is the parent of a second-year math student. The draw was made by the August prize winner, Graham Connor.

Thousands of UW students probably met Gail Ruetz the first time they came to UW -- she's been manager of the Visitors Centre for some 20 years. But now (this coming Friday, to be precise) she's leaving the university, and friends are invited to bid her goodbye at a reception from 2 to 4 on Friday afternoon in the bookstore, South Campus Hall.

Today is the application deadline for Rhodes Scholarships for the year 2001. Holders of the famed scholarships receive full support for two or three years' study at the University of Oxford. "Qualities of both character and intellect are most important requirements for a Rhodes Scholarship," says the official announcement. "The applicants will be interviewed by a university committee, which will select applications to be forwarded to the Rhodes Committee." Information is available from Elaine Garner in the graduate studies office, Needles Hall.

Elsewhere in Needles Hall, Carmen Roecker of the registrar's office sends word (not for the first time) that there are lots of unclaimed class schedules and fee receipts for undergraduate students. Please, she says, pick yours up.

And some of the talk of the campus today is surely about football, after the Warriors defeated the Windsor Lancers 35-7 on Saturday. The gold-and-black attack included two touchdowns in the first three minutes of the game.

Events for the next couple of days

Today through Friday, the Bookstore is holding a "Hurt Book Sale". What's a hurt book? Says Jason MacIntyre in retail services: "We've obtained over 3,000 books from our publishers that have minor injuries -- dents, scratches, and tears -- or are slightly out of date. Prices are drastically reduced, with some books priced as low as two dollars. There's something for everyone: fiction, non-fiction, reference books, and a shipment of physics and math books from Springer-Verlag."

A seminar on "Making a Career Fair Work for You", scheduled for 10:30 this morning, comes just in time to prepare students for the big event on Wednesday. Career Fair 2000 will run from 10:00 to 3:30 on Wednesday at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium (there will be a free shuttle bus from UW) and some 200 employers are expected to take part. The career resource centre has more information, and that's the place to register for this morning's preparatory seminar as well.

Today is announced as the 13th birthday for Bon Appetit, the food fair in the Davis Centre. So a party is happening, from 11:30 to 1:30: "We are going to have Kelly the Klown making balloon art," says Jeannie Watt in food services, "lots of prizes (pick from our birthday basket), and free cake made by Food Services' very own bakery."

Carolyn MacGregor, professor of systems design engineering, will be speaking at Kitchener Public Library's downtown branch today (12 noon) about her research on child pedestrian safety.

The InfraNet Project presents a talk today by Frank Clegg, the new president of Microsoft Canada, under the title "Realizing the Next Generation Internet". Says InfraNet:

Microsoft .NET (pronounced "dot-net") is a new platform, user experience and set of advanced software services planned to make all devices work together and connect seamlessly. With this next generation of software, Microsoft's goal is to make Internet-based computing and communications easier to use, more personalized, and more productive for businesses and consumers. In his new position of president of Microsoft Canada Co., Frank Clegg will be responsible for leading the organization toward the delivery of Microsoft .NET. He will speak about this new platform and the next generation Internet, how software developers and businesses will be able to take advantage of it, and what the .NET experience will look like for consumers and business users.

A reception will be held this afternoon for the President's Athlete Academic Honour Roll. It's a first-ever event in which 123 UW varsity athletes representing 24 teams and holding grade averages of at least 80 per cent will be recognized by David Johnston, UW president, and Judy McCrae, director of athletics and recreational services. The event starts at 4:00 in the Laurel Room of South Campus Hall.

Open CECS Online, a group with an interest in using student talent to develop a new computer system for UW's co-op department, will hold its first meeting of the term at 5:00 today in Student Life Centre room 2133.

The Pocket Dwellers will play at the Bombshelter in the Student Life Centre, tonight and again tomorrow night.

Happening Tuesday:

• The joint health and safety committee will meet at 9 a.m. in Needles Hall room 3004.
• Gustave Goldmann of Statistics Canada will give two talks tomorrow with background on the plans for a Survey Research Centre at UW. He'll speak at 10:30 in PAS room specifically about the centre, and at 3:30 in Math and Computer room 5158 on "Defining and Observing Minorities".
• The teaching resource office will present a "skills-based workshop" on "Polishing Your Presentation Skills" at 12 noon tomorrow in Biology I room 271 (that's a change from the original location).

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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