![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Friday |
Monday, February 9, 2004
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Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
Students vote this weekVoting starts tomorrow as undergraduate students elect the 2004-05 leadership of the Federation of Students. There are three candidates for president and two each for vice-president (education), VP (internal affairs) and VP (administration and finance).At least, there were three candidates for president late last week. Friday night, 'uwstudent.org' reports, the Feds' election committee disqualified one of the three, arts student Will Hamilton. Voters are also choosing student senators for an arts seat and an at-large seat, and students' council representatives from science co-op and arts regular. And arts students are voting on a proposed endowment fund. Polls will be open online continuously from Tuesday at 8 a.m. to Thursday at 8 p.m. There will also be on-campus polls in nine buildings, open each of the three days from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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The agenda for tonight's meeting was published Friday, and Saturday morning a banner-headline story in the Record gave details of the proposal based on a report from city hall staff. A major feature, it said, would be a possible UW school to train pharmacists.
Chakma sent a brief memo to members of the UW senate Friday confirming that discussions about a pharmacy school are "at a very early exploratory stage" with Kitchener officials. He said he had given word to UW's board of governors and the senate executive committee in confidential session last week.
It's been rumoured for months that UW might be interested in a downtown presence. "We've been discussing this opportunity with the University of Waterloo for a number of months," Kitchener's director of downtown development told the Record.
Over the past few months, the long-range planning committee of UW's senate has talked about possible interest in a school of pharmacy here. George Dixon, the dean of science, has said that pharmacy is a promising field for UW to consider. The only pharmacy school in Ontario is at the University of Toronto, and currently graduates 180 students a year, a number that's not considered enough to meet the demand.
The staff report to Kitchener council speaks of "a future Health Sciences Campus with the potential for a School of Pharmacy in Downtown Kitchener. A portion of the Campus could be operational by fall 2006." Eventually the campus could have 1,000 undergraduate students, 200 graduate students, and 80 faculty and staff, it says.
The Record says the preferred site for the UW development is the "Epton" property, a disused factory site at the corner of King and Victoria Streets. The city report notes that besides pharmacy, there could be "other health related academic and research initiatives . . . public, private and commercial". The Epton site is about halfway between the two general hospitals in the city, Grand River (K-W) on King Street and St. Mary's on Queen Street.
The report suggests a price tag of $30 million from Kitchener for building costs. The project would be a big piece of Kitchener's continuing effort to attract investment and development to the downtown. Wilfrid Laurier University is planning to move its school of social work to the old St. Jerome's High School building on Duke Street.
And at tonight's meeting, Kitchener council will also discuss a much smaller proposal: gallery space for UW fine arts students and community artists in a building on King Street.
"It's a fantastic initiative," he said, after the web site went up last week, "not just for the university, but system wide, so the public can find out how clean and safe facilities are."
Results of inspections carried out since October 1 reveal a few "critical infractions" -- issues that "could pose a potential immediate health hazard" on campus. Murdoch noted that all infractions requiring immediate action have been addressed, with none requiring follow-up inspections to ensure compliance.
Inspectors also noted "non-critical items (that) do not pose an immediate health hazard and usually do not require a re-inspection, but will be addressed at the next scheduled inspection." Those include ventilation, lighting and maintenance problems.
Of UW sites inspected since last October, clean bills of health went to the Davis Centre's Bon Appetit and three day care centres -- the Early Childhood Education Centre, Klemmer, and Hildegard Marsden.
Critical infractions noted on the Region of Waterloo's food safety web site, including those at church colleges which are not administered by UW food services:
A number of other sites -- from Aussie's variety store, which sells pre-packaged food, to coffee shops to Federation Hall, which prepares and serves "hazardous food" -- have not been inspected since October and as yet have no reports posted on the web site.
The food safety inspections (conducted without notice) have been going on for at least the 16 years since Murdoch arrived on campus. "They continually raise the bar and set higher standards for food safety, and we continue to meet those at every opportunity."
To ensure compliance with those standards, food services provides in-house training for all staff who handle food, with on-going "habit development" sessions. As well, the region offers "certified food handler" courses. A person with that certification is required to be on site at every facility that prepares food. "Our goal," says Murdoch, "is to have all food handlers in food preparation facilities certified. We put a lot of energy into food safety. We're working diligently on it."
Despite some slip-ups, he said, "I'm proud to show our kitchens to anybody. They're among the cleanest and safest kitchens in a very wide area."
| WHEN AND WHERE |
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'Climate Change in Parks Canada', lecture by David Welch, 10:30,
Arts Lecture Hall room 124.
Civil engineering professor Susan Tighe speaks on "Road Safety", Kitchener Public Library main branch, noon. Energy efficient housing in Mongolia, presentation by graduate student Randy van Straaten, for Engineers Without Borders, 5:30, Davis Centre room 1302. 'Facilitating Effective Discussions', teaching workshop, Tuesday 12 noon, information from teaching resources, phone ext. 3132. Café-rencontre, "La francophonie à l'heure d'Internet", Tuesday 2:30 to 4:00, Environmental Studies I room 221. Registrar's office open house in renovated offices, Wednesday 1 to 3 p.m., Needles Hall, all welcome. Quilt Trunk Show presentation sponsored by Employee Assistance Program, Thursday 12 noon, Davis Centre room 1302. |
Faculty: One faculty member of the University to be elected by/from each Faculty of the University, terms from May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2007.
Faculty-at-large: Seven faculty members of the University to be elected by/from the members of faculty of the University, terms from May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2007.
Conrad Grebel University College and St. Jerome's University: One faculty member of Conrad Grebel College to be elected by/from the members of faculty of Conrad Grebel College, term May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2007. One faculty member of St. Jerome's University to be elected by/from the members of faculty of St. Jerome's University, term May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2007.
Graduate students: Two graduate students of the University to be elected by/from the full- and part-time graduate students of the University, terms from May 1, 2004 to April 30, 2006.
Nomination forms are available from the Secretariat (ext. 6125) and online. At least five nominators are required in each case. Nominations should be sent to the Chief Returning Officer, Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., Friday, February 27, 2004. Elections will follow if necessary.
CAR