And another one bites the dust

Already it’s Friday of orientation week. The schedule for first-year student activities today is largely social, with a bit of a service component such as “Community Day” at St. Jerome’s University.

During the daytime hours, there’s an outing to the Elora Gorge for St. Paul’s College, and the Valour and Honour Tournament Festival for Renison College. Students based on (and off) the main campus, meanwhile, will take part in something called JumpStart Friday at multiple locations. Tonight, engineering has a scavenger hunt, applied health sciences has “olympics”, and arts has the Moustache Masquerade in the arts quadrangle.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Camp Trillium for students at Conrad Grebel University College, but all the other groups are scheduled to take part in a 10:00 pep rally on the Village Green, followed by Black & Gold Day on the north campus fields. The main attraction there: a 1:00 football game on the new Warrior Field, Waterloo vs. the McMaster Marauders.

Saturday night brings the traditional toga party on the Matthews Hall green, an event that’s alcohol-free but not exactly noise-free — the dance music gets cranked up starting at 8:30. For students who don't fancy Roman attire al fresco, there's an official alternative: a comedy and magic performance in Federation Hall.

And on the seventh day, they rest. Classes start Monday morning. An e-mail message went yesterday to “approximately 26,047 students”, the registrar’s office says, advising them that “if you plan to add a class for the fall 2008 term, the last day to do so is September 19 for an on-campus class and September 12 for a distance education class.” Other deadlines, in the complicated matrix that is UW’s timetable for the fall term, are listed online.

Thousands of students also got a message a few days ago about planning ahead: “If you plan to take courses in the winter 2009 term, you’ll be able to see your online enrollment session times in your Quest account on September 9. When you sign into your enrollment session in October you'll see courses scheduled for you as a result of your pre-enrollment selections, or course selections done for you by your school or department. You'll still be able to add, drop, or swap courses to finalize your winter schedule.”

The bookstore in South Campus Hall will be open tomorrow, noon to 4 p.m., and extended hours (until 7 p.m.) will be in effect starting Monday. • The “fall faculty event” for faculty members, sponsored by UW’s research office and graduate studies office, including workshops and an open house, starts at 1:00 this afternoon in Needles Hall. • The Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries are open today 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.; regular hours resume Monday.

And . . . I wrote yesterday that the Monte Carlo Night event, a fixture on the Thursday evening of orientation week, is the only occasion in the year when the Student Life Centre is closed to most of its constituents. Turns out that that isn’t true: in fact the SLC was also shut to the campus community the previous evening, for the orientation “Under the Sea” party.

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Opinion web site awaits your views

As the fall term begins, surely you’ve got an opinion on something. The chatter on the newsgroup uw.general this week was focused on coffee prices and, inevitably, smoking regulations, but if those issues don’t suit you there’s always academic freedom, campus development, classroom technology and (yikes) parking.

To give members of the UW community a venue to say what they think, the “UW Opinion” website is at your service, waiting to hear what faculty, students and staff members think about “post-secondary affairs and campus issues”. The site has an easy-to-remember URL — www.opinion.uwaterloo.ca — and there’s a link from a top corner of the Daily Bulletin every day.

UW Opinion has had only a trickle of comments most of the time since it was launched 18 months ago, so perhaps now is the time for it to become a torrent. After all, ever since the printed Gazette ceased publication four years ago, people have been murmuring that they miss the opportunity to let their voices be heard through the “Letters” column. Business wasn’t always brisk there either, but it did provide an opportunity for faculty, staff and students to speak out. And the format of this Daily Bulletin, which has replaced the Gazette in some ways, doesn’t make it a good channel for opinion and debate, although there’s much in its content that could be debated and commented upon.

That led to the idea of an electronic opinion site, something that leaders of the faculty association and staff association, among others, had been urging us to create. The site is operated by the UW Communications & Public Affairs office as a companion to the Daily Bulletin. The rules of engagement are set out for all to see, though we’re well aware that they may have to be clarified or modified in the light of experience.

The most important criterion is that postings to UW Opinion are supposed to be, in some way, about UW: it isn’t the place for comments about the federal election (on either side of the border), hockey violence or Britney Spears.

You need to use your UW password to submit, although anyone can read what’s been posted, and your name (as it appears in UWdir) will appear as the author of your submission. Maximum length for UW Opinion entries is 2,000 characters (approximately 350 words).

As with the letters-to-the-editor page in the Gazette, submissions will be reviewed before being posted. An important filter is that submissions will be vetted for libel. No personal attacks are welcome.

As editor of the Daily Bulletin, I’ve been asked to take the lead in editing UW Opinion, which means perusing and approving each letter that arrives. (Other CPA staff will share in that duty as well, if the volume grows heavy and when I’m not available.) We’re ready for the gusts of opinion — all that’s missing now is your thoughts.

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Films, concerts, speakers and more

An open house for the new VeloCity tech incubator residence . . . lectures by a Nobel Prize winner and two Canadian legislators . . . Shakespearean drama . . . those are a few of the major events set for the campus this term.

And then there's Homecoming, with three major events and many smaller ones crammed into a single day, Saturday, September 27. The day includes a Family Carnival ("featuring a meet-and-greet with Diego and Dora the Explorer"), the "Battle of Waterloo" football game against Laurier at Warrior Field, and a free post-game concert featuring The Trews. A number of alumni reunions are scheduled, justifying the "Homecoming" name, and the day also brings both the traditional AHS fun run around the ring road and the annual East Asian Festival at Renison College. Watch for much more Homecoming publicity in the next few days — meanwhile, details are on the alumni web site.

Here's a preview of some of the other listings that will be appearing in the "When and where" column of the Daily Bulletin over the weeks ahead.

Global Queer Cinema film series in conjunction with Fine Arts 290: Thursday evenings beginning September 11, 6:30 p.m., East Campus Hall room 1220.

VeloCity (new high-tech residence) open house Friday, September 12, 12:00 to 5:00, Minota Hagey Residence building across ring road from Environment buildings; launch dinner (by invitation) follows.

K-W Car-Free Day sustainable transportation festival, endorsed by Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, Sunday, September 14, 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m., Victoria Park, Kitchener.

Thomas Homer-Dixon, faculty of arts, speaks on "Crisis and Resilience," September 15, 7 p.m., Centre for International Governance Innovation, details and RSVP online.

Accounting Students Education Contribution Fund presents Joseph C. Canavan, investment manager, as this year’s Distinguished Speaker, Tuesday, September 16, 4:00, Humanities Theatre, reception follows.

Faculty of Environment campus public celebration to celebrate the faculty’s new name and 40th anniversary, Wednesday, September 17, 11:30 to 1:30, tents between Modern Languages and the ring road.

5th Annual UW Powwow featuring Aboriginal drummers, singers, dancers, food, crafts; ceremonial opening by former lieutenant-governor James Bartleman; Saturday, September 20, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., St. Paul’s College, $5 entry fee.

Career Fair, Wednesday, September 24, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., RIM Park, Waterloo, details online.

UW Retirees Association annual wine and cheese party Thursday, September 25, 3:00 to 5:00, University Club.

Serge LeClerc, UW graduate and member of the Saskatchewan legislature, speaks on "An Extraordinary Journey of Overcoming and Redemption," September 25, 7 p.m., St. Paul's College.

Alumni and faculty art exhibition and silent auction September 25-27, with reception Saturday 3:30 p.m., Modern Languages gallery, information e-mail lhartley@uwaterloo.ca.

Ontario Universities Fair for future students, September 26 (9 to 6), 27 (10 to 5) and 28 (10 to 5), Metro Toronto Convention Centre, details online.

St. Jerome’s University presents Noel Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate of Canada, “Serving the Common Good: Ethics-Based Civics Education and Public Service,” Friday, September 26, 7:30 p.m., Siegfried Hall, free.

‘ReThink Waterloo’ full-day environmental event with free seminars and lectures “for ages from 10 to 100”, sponsored by Faculty of Environment, Friday, October 3, Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex. Keynote speaker Sheila Watt-Cloutier, human rights advocate, 10:00. Evening speaker (tickets $35, students $20) Robert Kennedy Jr., environmental activist, 7:30 p.m.

Go Eng Girl open house at Ontario faculties of engineering for girls in grades 7-10, Saturday, October 18, UW details and registration online.

Faculty of Environment alumni reception featuring Stephen Lewis, former United Nations special envoy to Africa, and presentation of the faculty’s alumni achievement awards, Tuesday, October 21, 6:30 p.m., IBM Toronto Software Lab, details online.

Faculty of Science Gairdner Foundation Lecture: Sydney Brenner, Cambridge, 2002 Nobel Prize winner, “The Architecture of Biological Complexity,” Wednesday, October 22, 1:30, Humanities Theatre.

Sawatsky Lectures at Conrad Grebel University College: Mary Oyer, Goshen College, “Songs That Have Endured”, October 24, 7:30 p.m.; workshop, “Enlivening the Tradition”, October 25, 9:00 to noon, both in Grebel great hall.

In the Mind’s Eye festival (“Issues of Substance Use in Film and Forum”) films at UW Architecture building in Cambridge November 5, 19 and 26, 7:00.

Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ presented by UW department of drama, Theatre of the Arts, November 13-15 and 20-22 at 8 p.m., plus school matinees November 14 and 21 at 12:30, tickets $12 (students $10) at Humanities box office.

If you're an event organizer, be sure to send information to the Daily Bulletin well ahead of time, and list the occasion also on the university's UWevents web site.

CAR

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