February 25, 2003

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

Weighing the future of a lake
Savings foreseen from generic drugs
Staff asked to elect board member
The talk of the campus

Editor:
Chris Redmond
credmond@uwaterloo.ca

New Paradigms for Excellence, tomorrow

[Aerial view]

Aerial view of Columbia Lake in milder weather than we've been having lately, looking northeast from the Townhouses and Columbia Street.

Weighing the future of a lake -- by Barbara Elve

Will it flow, puddle or pool? Those are some of the options for Columbia Lake that will be presented to the public at an open house on Thursday. From noon to 2 p.m. in Davis Centre room 1301 and from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Waterloo Recreation Complex, visitors will have a chance to view five different "anchor concepts" for Columbia Lake, as well as plans for the trail system upstream along Laurel Creek.

The exercise is part of an environmental assessment of the north campus being conducted for the creation of an environmental reserve. The reserve, some 109 hectares along the Laurel Creek corridor -- just west of the new research and technology park -- is part of the UW North Campus Master Plan.

"The corridor offers habitat for certain wildlife and migratory birds and allows wildlife movement through the watershed," a report presented to the UW Watgreen committee earlier this month explained.

As well as offering opportunities for teaching and research, "the property is actively used by the university and the broader community with activities generally centred around passive walking, cycling, jogging, bird watching, and botanizing."

The challenge, says the report prepared by consultants CH2M Hill Canada, is "to meet the needs of a greater number of future users while protecting the integrity of the nature reserve." Improving water quality and protecting wetlands are particular issues.

But the most controversial element is the future of Columbia Lake. The lake is not a natural feature of the landscape, but was constructed as part of the Laurel Creek flood control system. A study of water quality and aquatic habitat shows that "the Columbia Lake and Laurel Creek reaches within the surrounding lands are . . . a degraded system in which the water quality and habitat has little resiliency to respond to negative land use impacts."

Five options for the management of Columbia Lake as part of the environmental reserve have been developed:

Maintain water levels in the new Columbia Lake at high levels all year;
Maintenance of Columbia Lake as an off-line lake and construction of a baseflow bypass channel;
Removal of Columbia Lake and creation of a new Laurel Creek channel;
Creation of a series of off-line ponds and construction of a baseflow bypass channel;
Maintain lake in current configuration and operation (with high water levels during the summer months and low during the winter months).

Details, pros and cons for each will be presented at the open house.

The study team is particularly interested in learning how research and educational programs will be affected by the various options. They want to know if any current or future research planned for the site of the environmental reserve might be disrupted by alterations. As well, the team wants to find out which concepts potentially enhance or inhibit opportunities for research on the lands.

Based on feedback received from the open houses and other sources, a draft of the preferred concept plan will be presented to a meeting of the project's technical steering committee on March 20. Another open house is scheduled for June.

Savings foreseen from generic drugs

Two ways of saving some money on prescriptions are outlined in a memo that's being sent to staff and faculty members today by the chair of UW's pension and benefits committee, associate provost Catharine Scott.

"The high increases in health care costs that UW and many other organizations have been experiencing in the last few years are expected to continue into the future," she reminds UW employees. "As long as health care costs rise more than general inflation and the income of the University, maintaining current benefits is and will continue to be a challenge. One of the Committee's primary goals is to maintain the current level of benefit coverage.

"Within our health care plan, the largest single expense is prescription drugs, which, on an annual basis, costs the University $2.7 million (although it's seen as insurance, it is really a cost recovery system -- whatever is paid out by the insurance company is charged back to the University, plus an administrative charge).

"During its investigation of options/strategies that could reduce the costs to the health care plan, the Committee found that mandatory generic drug dispensing and voluntary trial prescriptions were worth considering. These strategies will reduce costs to the employee and the plan, but will not affect current coverage or cost employees any more out-of-pocket expense (providing a pharmacy is used that charges no more than a $6.00 dispensing fee)."

The new arrangements are expected to save UW $40,000 to $70,000 a year, Scott says.

Mandatory generic drug dispensing: "Generic drugs are chemically equivalent alternatives to brand-name drugs. They are of the same quality and contain the same active ingredients, but are less expensive. Unless the attending physician stipulates 'no substitutions', prescriptions will automatically be filled with the generic drug. If employees desire the brand-name drug and their physician has not stipulated 'no substitutions' on the prescription, the employee will pay the difference in cost between the generic and the brand-name drug."

Voluntary trial prescriptions: "Trial prescriptions are designed to encourage the dispensing of small quantities of new prescriptions for long-term use medications known to have possible side effects and to discourage waste when medication is not tolerated. It is a voluntary decision made between the employee and her/his pharmacist."

Attached to the memo is a question-and-answer sheet about the two new wrinkles in the drug plan. In particular:

How much do I pay with a trial prescription? "For the 7-day trial prescription, you pay 20% of both ingredient cost (for a 7-day period) and dispensing fee up to a maximum dispensing fee of $6 (subject to out-of-pocket maxima). If the trial is successful, you pay 20% of the ingredient cost only for the balance of the prescription. This is the same cost sharing you experience now under the current plan. Note that you will continue to be responsible for any dispensing fee charged above $6. If the trial is not successful, the balance of the prescription is not filled resulting in savings to you and the University."

And a summary asks, "How can I limit my out-of-pocket costs for drug expenses and help reduce the costs of this University-paid health care benefit?" Answer: "Discuss your prescription needs with your doctor and use generic drugs or trial prescriptions where applicable. Also, given that our plan recognizes only up to a $6 dispensing fee limit, you should consider utilizing a pharmacy participating in the UW preferred provider network (PPN)."

Staff asked to elect board member

"Nominations are requested from full-time staff of the University," says a memo from the university secretariat, "to fill one staff seat on the Board of Governors, term from May 1, 2003 to April 30, 2006.

"Full-time staff members who are Canadian citizens are eligible for nomination. Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat, ext. 6125 or online."

At least five nominators are required in each case. Nominations should be sent to the chief returning officer in the secretariat, Needles Hall, by 3 p.m. on Friday, March 7. An election will follow if necessary.

The seat that's up for election is currently held by Ann Simpson, manager of the Student Life Centre, who was elected to the board in the spring of 2000, for a term that ends April 30, 2003. She's eligible to be re-elected.

There are two staff representatives on the 36-member board; the other one is held by Mark Walker of the department of biology.

QUICK POLL

YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
How are you feeling about winter now?
Still loving it -- the skiing, the snow on the evergreens . . . 193
It was great, but enough is about enough . . . 280
Hated it from the very beginning . . . 244

The talk of the campus

One effect of enrolment growth in the "double cohort" year, and the years to follow, will be pressure on classroom space, provost Amit Chakma told UW's senate last night. With backup from the deans, the provost gave a briefing on what UW can expect after first-year enrolment goes from this year's 4,800 to (at least) 5,400 next fall. "We are probably going to push some classes to late afternoon hours," said Chakma. George Dixon, the dean of science, said that in fact his faculty will be looking at running some labs on Saturday mornings. Classes will also be larger, the deans pointed out, and Geoff McBoyle of environmental studies said he fears that upper-year seminars and honours essays soon "will have to go".

Also at the senate meeting, Federation of Students president Brenda Koprowski gave an invited presentation on what the Federation is and does. Some senators likely didn't realize the size of the operation, which has 13 full-time staff, plus the four executive members (president and vice-presidents) who are paid to work full-time for a year. Koprowski emphasized the Feds' many partnerships with the university, in areas from orientation to the financing of the new Co-op and Career Services building. "We have a good relationship with the administration and with the university," she said. UW president David Johnston and provost Amit Chakma seconded that, and Chakma observed that the Feds have always enjoyed "wonderful leadership".

Earlier yesterday, officials told the senate finance committee that Waterloo, on a much smaller scale, is experiencing the sagging returns on investments that have been earning the University of Toronto unpleasant publicity lately. "Yes, we're taking a hit," provost Amit Chakma confirmed. Vice-president (administration and finance) Dennis Huber said the people who spend the interest from almost 400 separate endowment funds -- supporting various scholarships, chairs and other projects -- have been told to count on spending 2.5 per cent of the fund's value this year, down from the usual 5 per cent level. "We still don't know where the markets are going," said Huber, when asked about investment income for the year ahead. Total value of UW's endowments at present: about $75 million, compared with Toronto's $4 billion.

[Mains] Math student Matt Mains (right) won two gold medals and a silver for the swimming Warriors at the CIS (national) championships, held in Victoria on the weekend. He finished first in the 200-metre and 100-metre breaststroke, and second in the 50-metre breaststroke. the gold medal performance makes him a first-team All-Canadian and earns him a trip to Korea in August to represent Canada in the World University Games.

The Canadian Computing Competition, sponsored by UW's Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing, is being written today by high school students across Canada. . . . Meanwhile, high schoolers who are thinking of engineering as a career are on campus today for Shadow Days, and more are expected tomorrow. . . . Tours of the new CEC building are offered at 12:00 and 12:30 today (meet in the main lobby). . . .

The guess-when-spring comes contest being run by UW's weather station is featured on the front page of the Record this morning, hours before the 4 p.m. deadline. . . . A workshop on "business etiquette and professionalism" is scheduled for 2:30 today as part of the career services workshop series. . . . Representatives of the faculty of arts will be at the Travelodge Yorkdale in Toronto tonight at 7:00 for a presentation on arts programs aimed at future students and their families. . . .

A workshop under the title "Teaching Dossiers, Part 2" will be held Wednesday morning and repeated Thursday afternoon, as part of the continuing series of workshops sponsored by the teaching resources and continuing education office. "The teaching philosophy is a critical component of the teaching dossier," an announcement of the workshop says, "but it is also the most difficult to articulate. At this workshop, you will learn more about the goals of a teaching philosophy and a variety of tools that you can use to help you uncover what teaching means to you. We will do an interactive metaphor exercise to demonstrate one of the tools and then we will analyze sample teaching philosophy statements. To prepare for this workshop, please decide on a metaphor that describes you as a teacher (i.e., gardener, architect, travel guide). Bring this metaphor with you to use in a group exercise. The workshop is open to all UW instructors and is one of two required workshops for those pursuing the Certificate in University Teaching." There's more information on the web.

Happening tomorrow: "From Africa to Canada", music by Rebecca Campbell and Carol Ann Weaver, at 12:30 in the Conrad Grebel University College chapel . . . bingo sponsored by Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, in support of Anselma House and Haven House shelters, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Student Life Centre . . . a reading by Marianne Brandis, author of historical fiction for young adults, at 4 p.m. at St. Jerome's University . . . a "civic dialogue" on affordable housing at 7:30 p.m. at the home of the Civics Research Group, 70 King Street East in Kitchener.

CAR