'Double cohort night' tonight

The event starts at 8 p.m. in the Theatre of the Arts, which seats 500. Julie Primeau of UW's student recruitment office said her colleagues are guessing that attendance will be around 400. But if the theatre fills up and more people want to attend, they'll be directed to a lecture hall in the Math and Computer building where the event will be shown on video screens.

"We even have walkie-talkies," Primeau said, "so that they can ask questions, just as if they were in the theatre."

Interest in "double cohort" admissions is intense. September 2003 is the target date, the time when students from two high school classes will be graduating together -- current grade 12 students under the "old" school curriculum and current grade 11 students under the "new" four-year plan. Not all students will finish in the allotted time, and some experts are saying the incoming class may go up by about 30 per cent that year, with another boom expected in 2004. While some universities are planning a big temporary expansion, UW isn't; the latest estimate is that Waterloo will admit 5,000 students in the fall of 2003, compared to 4,600 this year.

At tonight's event, a panel will explore the double cohort question, as well as the new Ontario curriculum and how UW will be meeting the needs of students applying in 2003. "As the double cohort is fast approaching, I have noticed an increase in questions about this topic and there is a need for an information night," said Primeau.

Among university officials attending the event will be David Johnston, the president, and Amit Chakma, vice-president (academic) and provost. Johnston will deliver the keynote speech and Chakma will participate in the panel. The panel, moderated by registrar Ken Lavigne, will also include Peter Burroughs, director of admissions; Scott Davis of co-operative education; Primeau; and Bud Walker, director of business operations, who's responsible for the residences. Also participating will be Mark Verhoeve, head of guidance at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener.

People planning to attend have been invited to register at the admissions web site. The event is expected to run to about 10 p.m. Parking is available in parking lots H and C near University Avenue.

Referendum results sealed It's not clear when the results of last week's Federation of Students referendum will be known. The chief returning officer, Brandon Sweet of the Federation staff, issued a brief statement Friday: "The Referendum Committee would like to thank all students who participated in the Campaign Waterloo Referendum. The results of the referendum have been sealed pending complaint resolution. A press release outlining the details of the referendum results will follow as soon as possible."

UW and Toronto call the race a tie

Beating Toronto has been a goal for Midnight Sun since the beginning of the race, and they came within a minute of doing it -- might have done it handily, in fact, if not for a last-minute mechanical failure. I'll let them tell the story first-hand, in excerpts from e-mail reports over the weekend:

"We woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. in the pouring rain. Fortunately it cleared up enough to allow us a decent charge. We started off at 8:00 and set out on the last 184 km of the race. We hit the road 2 km ahead of Kamagawa B and 9 km ahead of Toronto. And we drove. "We came out flying at 80 km/h, and then sped up to 100 in hopes of catching up again, but we crossed the line in 15th place, 1 minute behind U of T.

"We are of course a little bit disappointed in not making the top 10 and in not beating U of T, but we are very pleased with the improvements we have made over our previous car. Two years ago we placed 24th or 25th (depending on who you ask and which source you get your data from) and took more than 6 days to cross the continent. This year's 15th place crossing in less than 5 and a half days shows significant improvement.

"After crossing the timing line we found U of T on the side of the road waiting for us. As we came abreast of their team they pulled out and the two teams drove in formation to the ceremonial finish line. According to U of T, they considered the finish a tie. The Midnight Sun VI team appreciates the gesture by the U of T team. After a 3,000 km race and travelling to Australia together it is amazing that the two teams finished the race within 1 minute of each other.

"It was a great race by all who competed; congratulations to all the competitors and especially to the Nuna, Aurora and University of Michigan teams who finished in the top three.

"This summer at the American Solar Challenge and just recently at the World Solar Challenge we showed significant advancements over previous generations of the University of Waterloo Midnight Sun. UW innovation (e.g. aggressive fairing design) and teamwork have helped push solar vehicle technology forward and promoted education and environment, both on campus and in the community.

"For the next couple of days the team will be sightseeing around Adelaide while the car is on display at the finish line."

Library may expand on-line reserves

There's thought of expanding the "e-reserve" service, says Wish Leonard of the library's user services department, who explains that during the winter and spring terms this year, the library carried out a pilot project on scanning and mounting reserve materials on the web. "The pilot project was successfully completed," he says, "and electronic reserve services were established at all UW libraries beginning with the fall term."

Electronic reserves essentially give students "24-7" access to reserve material, he explains -- unlike physical items that are only available when the library is open, and even then only if somebody else isn't already using them.

Traditionally, what's in the reserve collection in a library is high-demand books. But the service is also used for photocopied articles, and for handouts directly linked to a course, such as problem sets, midterm answers and prepared notes.

Leonard says e-reserves can also cover a range of things: "materials created by instructors/teaching assistants for a course (assignment solutions, lecture notes, etc.), or materials for which the instructor has sought and can provide copyright permission to have mounted electronically, or the Library has electronic journal subscriptions and the licence permits us to link to specific articles they contain".

The reserve materials for 20 courses this fall, from political science to physics, add up to 158 scanned files, he said. "We are exploring the feasibility of expanding our e-reserve service."

Game show uses UW museum -- from the UW news bureau

"The Weakest Link" TV show is among media seeking information about games from the museum, which researches, collects, preserves and exhibits games and game-related objects. The museum maintains a collection of more than 5,000 objects and archival documents associated with games, including the Mork and Mindy game, tabletop hockey, and solo, a card game.

Its current exhibit is "The Geometry in Games," which centres on the use of geometric principles in games. One previous exhibit was "Slahal, a Bone and Stick Gambling Game." The replica of a visually impressive Pacific Northwest Coast Indian game is similar to dice games in ancient Rome or China. The play of the game is dependent upon two pieces of antler, used like dice.

The museum has displayed exhibits such as Board Games and Technology of the 20th Century, which traces the history of such beloved board games as Monopoly and Scrabble and lesser-known games such as the Leave It To Beaver Money Maker Game "as seen on TV" in 1954. It also explains the history of modern computer games.

"Our collection is vast," said curator Bernie Range, a graduate student in recreation and leisure studies. "I've had a call from 'The Weakest Link', asking about the Milton Bradley game 'Operation' and the origin of the practice of putting on opposite sides of a die, the numbers that add up to seven." Another British TV program, "The Edwardian Country House", wanted to know the rules for the gambling game of Baccarat, which was introduced to England in the 1890s and played by the aristocracy at the time.

Range said the establishment of the museum on campus is a natural outgrowth of research about games and game-playing behaviour. Games reflect the cultures in which they are developed and played, and illustrate the cultural diffusion and interaction of people throughout history.

"I think it is important for families to play games together, and not to lose that, especially with television and the influx of technology, because games give us this opportunity to learn about ourselves and others as we interact. And, of course, games offer such great entertainment value."

Also happening today, and more

Looks as though I'm gonna burn a few extra calories over the next three weeks. The Needles Hall elevator is going out of service, today through December 14, for what plant operations describes as an upgrade. People all through the building already know me for the grace with which I spill coffee after filling my cup at Pastry Plus on the ground floor; carrying it up two flights of stairs each time should give me lots of new opportunities.

The pension and benefits committee will meet from 8:30 to 1:30 today (Needles Hall room 3004) to hear reports from the five firms responsible for investing UW's half-billion-dollar pension fund.

The Waterloo Advisory Council, representing UW's co-op employers and other corporate friends, will hold its fall meeting this afternoon and all day tomorrow, mostly in Needles Hall. Highlight of the event will be a reception and dinner tonight in South Campus Hall, followed by a talk by Paul Rhodes of Rhodes Consulting Inc. (a close ally of Ontario premier Mike Harris) on "Communicating Effectively with Government".

The UW bookstore is holding a trade remainder sale today and tomorrow -- that means 50 per cent off the prices of "selected titles", not in the main store but in the concourse of the Student Life Centre. Sales tables will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

A "forum on regional co-operative businesses" will be held at 4:30 this afternoon in Davis Centre room 1304, sponsored by the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group. "Representatives of the Waterloo Region Co-op Council will describe the co-operative model and present their new map and web site of all co-ops and credit unions in Waterloo Region."

And . . . it's time to mark the calendar for two UW Christmas traditions: a noon-hour carol concert by UW's various choirs, in the great hall of the Davis Centre, on Wednesday, December 5; and caroling in the Modern Languages lobby, led by Jake Willms and open to all, a week later, on Wednesday, December 12. Yes, indeed, we are within a month of Boxing Day.

CAR