The latest on special events is listed on the United Way web site.

Meanwhile, on campus today . . .

The Environmental Studies Society will be holding a series of brown-bag lunches with candidates in the local municipal elections, and the series starts today. Guests will be Stephen Markan, Judy Greenwood-Speers, and Bob Verdun. "This is a great opportunity," says ESS communications director Monica Pukas, "for university students and the community to listen to candidates and have their questions answered." The event runs from 11:30 to 1:00 in the coffee shop in the basement of Environmental Studies I.

Meetings of the UW Simplicity Circle are being held every Thursday, and that would be today, at 5 p.m. in Davis Centre room 2306C. The group meets for "discussion that explores and promotes voluntary simplicity", says organizer Paul Nijjar, "a philosophy that encourages us to be conscious of our lives and lifestyles, and which proposes that simplifying our lives can sometimes make us happier and more fulfilled." For more information, Nijjar can be reached at pnijjar@uwaterloo.ca.

The second of this year's two Pascal Lectures by Nicholas Wolterstorff will be given tonight at 8:00 in the Humanities Theatre. Under the general topic "The Importance of Justice", he'll speak on "So You Thought Scripture Was All About Love and Not About Justice?" Earlier in the day, Wolterstorff -- professor emeritus of philosophy at Yale University -- will give a seminar on "Is a Theistic Account of Political Authority Viable?", at 3:30 in Humanities room 178.

The joint health and safety committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. in Needles Hall room 3001. . . . At 3 p.m., the men's soccer Warriors will host Nipissing University, at Columbia Field #2. . . . The Native studies lecture this week (8 p.m., MacKirdy Hall at St. Paul's United College) is by Ernie Benedict, speaking on "Relevancy of Native Traditions, Present and Future". . . . Tomorrow morning, in the tourism lecture series, David Lime of the University of Minnesota speaks on "Making Tourism Research More Relevant". . . .

The talk of the campus

Alicia Smith, director of the Hildegard Marsden Cooperative Day Nursery on UW's north campus, was honoured last week as one of the "Rogers Women of the Year". (The awards are an annual feature of Kitchener-Waterloo's Oktoberfest, and Rogers is the corporate sponsor.) Smith received her award in the "Impact" category, and was described by one nominator as "someone special . . . a pillar of strength" for her work at the day care, with everything from little kids to financial statements.

Figures from the co-op education and career services department, issued in early October, show 181 co-op students without jobs this term, out of 3,486 who were scheduled to be working. That's an employment rate of 94.81 per cent. "This is the second fall term where the unemployed numbers have been over 100," says CECS director Bruce Lumsden. "Since there are no first-year students [on work term] in the fall term, it is disturbing to see some of these higher numbers in the upper-year levels. There are slight indicators that the economy is strengthening; however, we still have some way to go to achieve full employment levels in line with our enrolment base." Final figures for this term are due at the end of the month.

Susy Kustra writes from the retail services department: "In light of the World Vision 30 hour Famine on October 16 and reading about the UW Police and Parking Services adopting a child through World Vision, the Retail Services staff have decided to collectively adopt a child as well. The cost of $33 a month to sponsor a child is quite manageable at only a few dollars each per month. We would like to challenge other departments on campus to sponsor children in need throughout the world and see how many children can be helped by the efforts of the University of Waterloo."

Happy news from the athletics department: "Two of the five Waterloo Warriors finished in the top three as they took home their first OUA Golf Championship in 28 years. Led by first team All-Star Jaspreet Walia and Mark Vander Beek, the Warriors shot a combined two day total of 584 (296-288), 10 shots better than the round one leaders and runners-up, the Guelph Gryphons (292-302)." Walia was two strokes off the individual lead with 144, compared to 142 for Guelph's Mike Kearns. Competition was held Monday and Tuesday at Victoria Park East Golf Club in Guelph.

The fall term examination schedule is now online, the registrar's office says. . . . October 29 is the application deadline for residence dons for the spring term (information is available at the residence office in Village I). . . . Police have clarified a report of a bus crash that killed a man in the Guelph area near Elmira on September 28; despite what was said earlier, the bus was not carrying UW students. . . .

From the library's online newsletter: "A New Books shelf for recently catalogued items has now been located near the Porter Information Desk. Books are added daily and kept for one week before they are shelved into the regular collection."

And . . . there's something special about Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott, who received a long-overdue silver medal this week, representing second place in the women's 5-km pursuit race at the 2002 Olympics. She was upgraded from the third-place bronze after one of the Russian skiers who finished ahead of her was found to have had drugs in her system. Scott is a UW student, working towards a degree in English through distance education. She was pictured in the Daily Bulletin in 2002 after winning her bronze.

CAR