November 22, 2002

Friday, November 22, 2002

WatCard funds can aid food bank
Speaker calls for health care justice
Reminder about academic freedom
Here's today's to-do list

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

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[Cake and balloons] [Magazine visible on poster]
'There's cake! A big cake!" That was the murmur near every entrance of the Student Life Centre yesterday, as food services served hundreds of pieces of sweetness. It was a noon-hour celebration of UW's 11th annual "best overall" ranking from Maclean's magazine. Brenda (Slomka) Koprowski, president of the Federation of Students, was among UW leaders who gave brief speeches before Pounce de Lion helped them cut the cake.

WatCard funds can aid food bank

"The hunger problem in the Kitchener-Waterloo community is a growing concern," says political science student Sarah Fong, and she for one is going to do something about it.

[With a mountain of boxes] Hallowe'en brought out some 150 students from UW and Wilfrid Laurier University, trick-or-treating on behalf of Meal Exchange. Anne Pathammavong, Paula Johnson and Sarah Fong are seen with some of the 4,369 pounds of food collected in the Beechwood, Westmount and Westvale neighbourhoods and turned over to the Food Bank.
First some background: "According to a recent article in The Record, food bank usage in K-W rose 75% from 2001 to 2002. Nearly half of the people who received donations from the Food Bank were under the age of 18. Unfortunately, the increase in demand for food comes at a time when food donations are the lowest they have been in years."

So what's the plan? "Beginning next week, the UW chapter of Meal Exchange and the Feds Food Bank are running a program called Skip a Meal. The event allows students to donate a portion of their WatCard funds in the cafeterias at Village I and Ron Eydt Village, as well as cash at other food services outlets.

"At the residences, students will have the option of donating funds directly from their WatCards in $5 increments. The residence floor -- from Village I, Ron Eydt Village, or Mackenzie King Village -- that donates the highest amount will win a pizza party courtesy of food services.

"The Skip a Meal program is an easy and effective way for UW students to reduce hunger in the K-W area. All of the money will be donated directly to the Feds Food Bank on campus and the Waterloo Region Food Bank."

Fong and religious studies student Anne Pathammavong are coordinators of the UW branch of Meal Exchange, which is now in operation at 23 campuses across Canada, providing financial assistance and food contributions to local and regional food banks.

Forum tomorrow talks social change
Health, peace, and social and economic justice will be the focus of a one-day "ecumenical forum" tomorrow, sponsored by St. Jerome's University as well as other agencies. Challenge for Change 2002 will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 49 Queen Street North, Kitchener.
Local physician Neil Arya will give the plenary address, "Justice and Compassion: to Heal the World". Arya is co-vice-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (the organization won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize) and former president of Physicians for Global Survival.
Workshops and discussions will be led by members of several groups, including Project Ploughshares (until recently based at Conrad Grebel University College). The phone number for last-minute registration information is 743-1461.

Speaker calls for health care justice -- a news release from St. Jerome's University

Most Canadians regard universal health care as a treasured right. But is it the much-vaunted Canadian system still viable? And what values will guide any reform of the system?

Sister Nuala Kenny, pediatrician, member of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, and chair of the department of bioethics at Dalhousie University, will speak on "Justice and Compassion in Canadian Health Reform" tonight at St. Jerome's.

Her talk, the Inaugural John Sweeney Lecture in Current Issues in Catholic Healthcare, takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Siegfried Hall, free of charge. All are welcome.

"In poll after poll over the last 30 years, Canadians have identified medicare as a manifestation of Canadian values," Kenny says. The principles of the Canada Health Act -- universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, and public administration -- have held almost icon-like status. But now those principles are being challenged."

As Roy Romanow prepares to table his report on the reform of Canadian health care, Kenny suggests we take a hard look at our values before choosing options that could profoundly change the system. Is health care a public or private concern? Do we still value fairness as a social good? What moral obligations do those armed with the power of science and technology have towards the vulnerable human beings who are their patients?

She is the author of What Good is Health Care? Reflections on the Canadian Experience. She chaired the Values Committee of the Prime Minister's National Forum on Health, was president of both the Canadian Pediatric Society and the Canadian Bioethics Society, and served on the biomedical ethics committees of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Pediatric Society.

The John Sweeney Lecture in Current Issues in Catholic Healthcare was established this year with funding from St. Mary's General Hospital and St. Joseph's Health System in memory of the late John Sweeney. The former provincial Liberal cabinet minister and past chancellor of St. Jerome's also served on the board of St. Mary's Hospital for 10 years. "He had a first-hand knowledge of education and health care in this community," says Douglas Letson, acting director of the St. Jerome's Centre for Catholic Experience. "This lecture fits his interests perfectly. He always liked to examine new ideas, and that's what we will do in this lecture."

Reminder about academic freedom

"Suppression of speech is not acceptable," the Canadian Association of University Teachers says in a statement that comes in tumultuous times.

In its Statement on Freedom of Speech on Campus, the national organization of professors emphasizes incidents that have taken place as a result of controversy over the politics of Israel and Palestine.

"The complex and bitter divide in the Middle East," it says, "is flaring up on campuses across North America -- raising serious questions about academic freedom and freedom of speech." Then it gives some background:

"Angry pro-Palestinian protestors prevented former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking at Concordia University on September 9. Subsequently, the President of the University declared a moratorium which will mean there can be no events related to the Middle East on campus.

"In August, pro-Israeli groups demanded that the University of Toronto discipline a faculty member for circulating an email petition critical of the Government of Israel, and described the University's refusal to do so as hiding behind academic freedom.

"This week [mid-September], the University of Colorado and Colorado College have come under fierce attack from politicians, evangelical religious leaders and pro-Israeli groups for inviting Dr. Hanan Ashrawi to be a principal speaker at a symposium on the global challenges in the aftermath of September 11. Dr. Ashrawi was the minister of higher education for the Palestinian Authority until she resigned in 1998 to found the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy where she currently serves as secretary general.

"Less dramatic and less publicized events have happened at numerous campuses.

"In the face of such events," CAUT says, the organization "finds it imperative to reaffirm certain basic principles":

"Academic freedom is essential for universities to fulfill their public responsibility to promote the unfettered search for knowledge and truth."
"Academic freedom means the right to freedom of speech and discussion, regardless of prescribed doctrine, political convention, or administrative convenience."
"Suppression of speech through violence, threats of violence, or political intimidation is not acceptable."
"Academic institutions have an obligation to defend academic freedom and not allow open discussion to be suppressed."

The CAUT statement concludes: "However irreconcilable the differences over the Middle East may be, no resolution is possible in the absence of an opportunity for all points of view to be heard and all arguments debated. We deplore any actions that suppress, or attempt to suppress, free speech."

The statement came well before last week's events at Concordia, when the university administration and student union clashed in court over the "moratorium" on public events about the Middle East crisis. A rally featuring MP Svend Robinson was held off campus instead. This week, Concordia officials announced that the ban will be lifted.

[Against brick wall]
A possum, that's what it is. There have been a few sightings on campus in recent days, and yesterday morning Scott Spidell, technical director of the Theatre of the Arts, got this picture outside Modern Languages. As I reported last time small furry animals were in the news, the Virginia opossum is North America's only marsupial. It is adaptable and eats a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, insects, and small vertebrates, and does well in urban areas. No wonder, then, that it's not unknown on campus. And no Red Green jokes, please.

Here's today's to-do list

The Touring Players are back on campus today with a children's show in the Humanities Theatre: "Beauty and the Beast", with performances at 10:00, 11:45 and 1:30.

Today's the last day for the fall toy fair sponsored by the Hildegard Marsden Co-operative Day Nursery. "Drop by on your lunch hour," organizers suggest, pointing out that besides toys, the event offers "books, crafts and much more. . . . Christmas shopping has never been so easy." The day care centre gets 15 per cent of what's spent. The event runs from 8:30 to 4:45 in the Davis Centre lounge.

The philosophy department holds its usual Friday colloquium at 2:30 today in Humanities room 373. This week's speaker is Stephanie Gregoire of St. Jerome's University: "Aristotle and Natural Slavery".

Microbiologist John Stanford, who gave the Hagey Lecture last night about his research on bacteria and the immune system, will give a student colloquium today, at 3 p.m. in the Clarica Auditorium, Lyle Hallman Institute, Matthews Hall. A reception follows at 4:00.

It'll be Beef 'n' Suds Nite at the University Club from 4:30 to 7:30, and prime rib is just the beginning of what's on offer for a $21.95-per-person tariff. Reservations: ext. 3801.

Later in the evening, Paul Macleod plays the Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre. Tickets are $4 for "Feds" (fee-paying undergraduates), $6 for others. And I don't think I've mentioned that the new liquor licence for the Bomber came through a couple of weeks ago, with approval to serve liquor on the newly expanded patio. Although the patio does have heaters, I notice it's snowing out there. . . .

Sports this weekend: The basketball Warriors host Lakehead for games today and tomorrow, and both days it's women's teams at 6 p.m., men's teams at 8 p.m., in the PAC main gym. The men's hockey team has home games on Saturday against Toronto and Sunday against Ryerson (2:00 both days at the Icefield). Otherwise, Warrior athletes are on the road this weekend: figure skaters at Queen's, the women's hockey team at Windsor (Sunday afternoon), squash players at McMaster for the "west sectional" tournament, swimmers also at McMaster for the division championships, men's volleyball team at Ryerson (tomorrow afternoon), and women's volleyball team at Ottawa (also tomorrow).

CAR

TODAY IN UW HISTORY
November 22, 1990: Votes from a two-day referendum are counted: UW students have turned down a proposal to pay a new fee for the building of a Student Life Centre. Proponents of the project go back to the drawing board.