Daily
Bulletin

Tuesday, July 24, 2001 Today we looks back 24 years, imagining what the Daily Bulletin would have said if it had existed one chilly day in 1977. Today's retrospective is the fourth in a series of historical Daily Bulletins. Meanwhile, here in the twenty-first century . . . A smog advisory is in effect for the Waterloo area today, as it has been since late last week. UW's Midnight Sun solar car remains in third place in the American Solar Challenge as the cars, now in California, begin the tenth day of the 11-day race. George Roter of the UW-based group Engineers Without Borders, who was the subject of an article in the National Post on Saturday, is to be interviewed on 13 regional CBC radio programs this morning. Memo from the registrar's office: "For those students who were not able to complete class selection for winter 2002, open appointments on Quest have been scheduled from 8:30 to 4:30 on July 26, 27, 30, 31, and on August 1, 2 and 3." A series of research presentations by students in the Certificate in University Teaching program is scheduled for tomorrow morning, 9:30 to noon, in Math and Computer room 5158. Papers include "Problem-Based Learning Applied to Engineering" and "Revising the Evaluation of Statistics 698". The student awards office will be closed all day tomorrow, reopening Thursday.

Universities oppose higher foreign fees

But three universities which earlier decided in favour of the tuition increases have had second thoughts about the decisions. And six more have either delayed a decision on the issue or opposed the fee hike outright.

The ministry of colleges and universities announced in May 1976 that effective this term, fees for foreigners not already enrolled are rising to $1,500 per year from an average of $585. The province maintained that the increase would result in a $6 million saving to taxpayers. But none of the universities have endorsed the tuition fee rise as a satisfactory way of cutting costs in post-secondary education.

The universities that have implemented the differential fees have done so because they lack funds to subsidize the visa students. Whether the universities hike fees or not, the government is making the $900-a-year cut to the grants which the universities receive.

UW is among institutions which imposed the fee hike, along with Wilfrid Laurier, Guelph, Windsor, Queen's and Lakehead.

UW president Burt Matthews told the board of governors earlier this month that sooner or later all the universities would have to impose the higher fee because they really have no choice. "No one in any university is likely to be happy to have distinctions made on the basis of nationality and citizenship," he said.

Antigone (Karen Woolridge) listens as Creon (Chris Newton) struggles for a way to avoid having her killed. The drama department's staging of the Sophoclean tragedy has its last performance this February morning at 11:30 a.m. in the Theatre of the Arts. Admission is free.

Math students take engineering minor

While the faculty of math has had co-op programs for ten years, this one is the first in the applied math department. "It's a new experience for us," says department chair Arthur Beaumont, "particularly since these students are involved in a rather special program that hasn't existed until now."

There is nothing new about the subjects they're taking, he hastens to add. The courses have been available for years. What's new is the idea of offering them as a package, and on the co-op system.

"The students would have been able to take the courses all along," agrees Ian McGee of the department. "However, they would have had to make the appropriate selections themselves, and in truth many of them would never have appreciated the advantages of these particular selections."

The math program with engineering electives is designed to "equip these students to interact better with the technological and scientific community", Beaumont says. "We are not educating them to become pseudo engineers. They will be applied mathematicians. But they should be able to relate better to the real-life problems of the engineer."

Students will not begin taking engineering electives until they have completed two work terms (and two academic terms). By then -- January 1978 for the students who started the program last fall -- they should have some idea what kind of engineering they want to specialize in. There will be five options available: structural and solid mechanics, physical systems analysis and synthesis, thermofluid mechanics, devices, networks and communications, and power systems and control.

Not much money for 'enrichment'

He told a news conference that about $5 million of the expected $5.5 million increase in revenue will be eaten up by salary increases, higher costs for energy, and other unavoidable costs, leaving at best $500,000 to increase faculty or staff or otherwise improve the quality of education at UW.

"All this," added the president, Burt Matthews, "is in the face of an enrolment increase of 6.6 per cent."

The senate finance committee will meet on Monday to take its first look at the draft budget, being prepared now under the supervision of budgets officer Shaun Farrell.

Matthews noted the provincial government's announcement, revealed last week, that the university's formula income during 1977-78 will be $62,637,000, a 10.4 per cent increase over this year's level.

He said it's not the university's business to scrimp and save, making a profit or putting funds "back into the business". "Our task here at the university," Matthews said, "is to spend all the money we're given."

The talk of the campus

A few months ago, UW safety director Nick Ozaruk was getting interested in biorhythms, arranging a study (by some high school students who had done a science fair project on the subject) of UW people's biorhythms and the accidents they have. His conclusion: despite some interesting early statistics, the finished study shows no significant patterns. But watch out for black cats and ladders, and slippery floors.

One of Canada's greatest engineers will be honoured March 7 when UW has the opening ceremonies of the Sandford Fleming Foundation. Special displays, public lectures and an awards dinner will mark the inauguration of the foundation. Its purpose: to foster the development of engineering education and practice, with particular emphasis on the co-operative education concept.

The hockey Warriors are hoping for a miracle tonight -- a defeat of the Western Mustangs. That's what it'll take, on top of Wednesday night's near-miracle in which Laurier beat Western 6-4, to get the Warriors into the Ontario Universities Athletic Association finals.

Jenny Ashworth of the department of philosophy will speak today (1:30 p.m., Humanities room 334) on "The Teaching of Philosophy at Oxford and Cambridge in the 15th and 16th Centuries".

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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