Touchdown: cornerback Tyler Smith scores the first points ever recorded at Warrior Field, leading off Waterloo's 30-17 defeat of McMaster on September 6. The Warriors will host Laurier in tomorrow afternoon's Homecoming game.

Lots to do, fine arts to sword arts . . .

Busy couple of days ahead on campus, what with Homecoming tomorrow and all the events that cluster around it. Here’s a rundown:

A fine arts alumni and faculty art exhibition and auction is under way today, 11:30 to 5:30, in the Modern Languages gallery, continuing Saturday from 11:30; a reception starts at 3:30 Saturday and final bids will be accepted at that time. Funds raised go to the fine arts endowment fund. Pictured is one of the artworks for sale, by 2008 graduate James Olley.

The arts faculty’s Arts in Academics speaker series features three graduates who are now on the other side of the lectern: Trudy Govier (PhD 1971, now at Lethbridge), Peter McLaren (BA 1972, now at UCLA), and Dennis Willms (BA 1973, now at McMaster). They’ll attend a luncheon today, then speak publicly between 2:00 and 4:00 in Tatham Centre room 2218. (Govier will also give a colloquium for the philosophy department, “Logical and Social Opposition,” 4:30 p.m., Humanities room 334.)

St. Jerome’s University presents Noel Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate of Canada, “Serving the Common Good: Ethics-Based Civics Education and Public Service,” at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Siegfried Hall, free. “This is a wonderful opportunity to meet one of Canada's finest leaders,” says an announcement from St. Jerome’s. Earlier, Kinsella will meet students in a reception from 2:00 to 3:30 in SJU room 3027.

"Single and Sexy", the orientation play, does an encore in the form of a single performance celebrating its 20th anniversary, tonight at 8 p.m. in the Humanities Theatre. Admission is $10 (students free with WatCard).

Warrior Weekend alcohol-free activities hit the Student Life Centre on both Friday and Saturday evenings. As always there are crafts (“Make Your Own Warrior Bandanas”), food, and games such as an “inflatable pillow bash” tonight and bingo tomorrow. Free movies are “The Happening” at 11:00 tonight, “Kung Fu Panda” at 9:00 Saturday, and “Iron Man” at 11:00 Saturday.

The traditional East Asian Festival comes to Renison University College on Saturday, divided into two parts. First is “Family and Culture Day” from 11:00 to 2:00 at Renison itself: “life entertainment including Chinese cultural dances, Japanese sword arts, and children’s performances. Next, visit the various educational booths. Don’t forget to visit the raffle and silent auction table!” Admission is free. The festival then moves to the Theatre of the Arts, Modern Languages building, for a “gala evening starting 6:30 p.m. — “a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres reception followed by performances that will surely whisk you off to exotic East Asia”. Tickets are $25.

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. . . all under the rubric of Homecoming

Mainstream Homecoming festivities begin at the Columbia Lake playing fields at 9 a.m. Saturday with a family carnival. A mad science show will “mix up a formula for fun”, allowing kids to explore physics, chemistry and more through hands-on activities — and get a slimy souvenir from the lab. Kids can also enjoy rides, bouncy castles and face painting. At 9:30 a.m., Dora the Explorer and sidekick Diego will be on hand to have photos taken with young visitors.

The annual ring road Fun Run sponsored by applied health sciences starts at 10:15 (registration 9:30) at Matthews Hall. Organizers say the options include a 5-kilometre timed run, a 2.5-km walk, jog, or stroll (“bring your baby and stroller if applicable”), and rollerblading “as many km's as you'd like — 2.5, 5, 7.5 or more!” For much of the morning, the inside lane of the ring road will be closed to traffic; vehicles can travel counterclockwise only, and Grand River Transit buses will make temporary stops accordingly.

A “We Are Warriors celebration” brings beach volleyball, a pancake breakfast and other spirit activities to Federation Hall starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Part of the purpose of Homecoming is a chance for alumni to come home, and tomorrow features reunions based in engineering and at Conrad Grebel University College, plus an orientation leader reunion late Saturday night at Federation Hall. Recreation and leisure studies has several reunion and 40th anniversary events including its award banquet tonight in the Festival Room.

Tours and open house events include the new School of Accountancy building at 10:00, VeloCity (in the Minota Hagey Residence) from 10:30 to 12:30, and residences at 10:30. A campus-wide tour starts from the Student Life Centre at 11:30. The Visitors Centre in South Campus Hall will be open from 10:00 to 4:00. The bookstore, UW Shop and TechWorx in SCH will be open from 11 to 4, and “black and gold” Warrior apparel will be featured at 20 per cent off in the UW Shop.

Long-time donors to UW will be honoured in a special event at 12 noon: a dedication ceremony for the “1957 Society Garden” at the south end of the Matthews Hall green, near Math and Computer. The 1957 Society was established last year to recognize individuals, companies and foundations (currently 321 of them) whose lifetime gifts to the university exceed $100,000. Donors as well as faculty, staff and other guests have been invited to tomorrow’s ceremony, at which president David Johnston will speak.

At 1:00 the football Warriors will host the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in the so-called “Battle of Waterloo” at Warrior Field on the north campus. Students with WatCard get free admission to the game; grandstand tickets for others are $10 (children $5), and there’s also free spectator space on the grass. The game will be followed, about 4:30, with a free outdoor concert by Nova Scotia rock band The Trews. Celebrations continue into the evening as the Bombshelter pub in the Student Life Centre hosts Homefest.

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Pickets at ring road; other notes

Union pickets are expected on campus this morning — and traffic congestion could follow — as the result of a strike against Brantco Construction, which is doing some excavating and paving work around the new Accountancy building. The pickets represent the Labourers International Union, which has been picketing Brantco’s main site in Cambridge since August. “The pickets are there to provide information about the union contract situation,” says a memo from UW police. “The union wishes to disrupt the University as little as possible. Brantco trucks will be allowed to enter the University property off of University Avenue using the left entrance lane. The Brantco trucks will stop at the stop sign on ring road and wait for 15 minutes, then proceed left to job site. Students, staff, faculty, et al. will enter using right lane and will not be impeded by the union picketers.” But “significant” traffic tieups could occur, continuing as long as Brantco is doing work on campus.

Render, the UW art gallery, tonight launches “a stimulating series of free film screenings” to accompany its innovative fall show Dominion City (and its sister city of Beaver) by Guelph-based graphic novelist Seth. “To complement the show,” a release explains, “each screening will be related to graphic art, comic books, or superheroes. The perfect and more-than-affordable date night, the screenings commence Friday, September 26, and will continue every Friday for ten weeks.” Dominion City is “an ever-expanding collection of buildings modeled after early modern Canadian cities,” says curator Andrew Hunter, "a cartoon space supported by an elaborate narrative vision that includes a detailed history and character studies that can be funny and amusing but equally dark.” Before each screening, local independent graphic artist (and Imprint columnist) Peter Trinh will discuss the movie's place in, and relation to, graphic novel history. His talk will commence each Friday at 6:00 and the film will begin right after. “Render's regular hours on Friday are 12-4, but these will be extended until an hour after the start of the show so that visitor's can check out Seth's original creations before taking in a little bit of comic book history.”

"When I come home feelin' tired and beat," the Drifters and the Nylons sang, "I go up where the air is fresh and sweet . . . up on the roof." In that spirit, UW's safety office has a web page advising on fumes from roof repairs on campus buildings. "Procedures are followed by Plant Operations to minimize the infiltration of fumes into buildings," it says. "These include using tar kettles with after burners; locating tar kettles away from air intakes; adjusting building ventilation system; and selecting appropriate roofing materials. Weather conditions and openings into buildings can affect how fumes enter a building. While roofing workers could have an overexposure to the fumes, building occupants generally do not have significant exposures. Although building occupants may experience discomfort, the fumes generally do not pose a health hazard. However some individuals with medical conditions may have their conditions aggravated by roofing fumes. Contact your supervisor to arrange some accommodation in your work schedule or area." Next location for a test of these arrangements is the Math and Computer building, where roofing work is scheduled to start Monday morning and run until about the end of October. "Various areas of the building may be on recirculated air," a plant ops memo notes. "Odours may be noticeable. Work is contingent on weather conditions."

A class led by civil engineering professor Ric Soulis will be riding the rails this afternoon, taking a trip up the tracks from Waterloo to Elmira and stopping en route to examine various water management techniques — the rehabilitation of Silver Lake in central Waterloo, the storm water management ponds on UW’s north campus, the similar ponds behind the Waterloo market, and the Conestogo River in St. Jacobs. There will be about a one-hour stop in St. Jacobs to walk along the mill race. Anybody who wants to come along is welcome to do so for a $10 fare (students and children $7), payable aboard the train, which will leave from opposite the Davis Centre at 1:00 and return to Waterloo between 4:00 and 4:30.

Jake Thiessen, director of UW's School of Pharmacy, was presented with the Mortar & Pestle Award of Merit from the Ontario Pharmacists Association last weekend, in recognition of "outstanding individual achievement". • Workshops and tours being offered by the UW library this fall term range from basic instruction in how to use the Trellis catalogue to "Introduction to GIS Software" and the use of the RefWorks bibliographical system. • Omar Kassim, a graduate student in biochemistry, could be on his way to a $1 million cash prize, as he'll take a break from the laboratory to compete tomorrow in the Wendy's Kick for a Million promotion on the field at the Rogers Centre.

CAR

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