'Friends and colleagues' at the town hall

Parking, parking, parking . . . and the university's financial situation and long-range future.

Those were the issues raised at yesterday's "town hall meeting" for faculty and staff. The event drew more than 400 people to the Humanities Theatre to meet new provost Feridun Hamdullahpur and hear him and president David Johnston answer questions posed by vice-president (external relations) Meg Beckel.

"We are trying to do these twice a year," said Beckel, whose role included reading out the questions that were received in advance by e-mail. There was time at meeting's end for half a dozen questions from the floor of the theatre, which Beckel repeated into her microphone so they'd be audible on recordings. A video of the town hall meeting is expected to be ready online in a day or two.

Before the questions, there were brief remarks from the three VIPs. Beckel spoke briefly about the "positioning and identity" project and this summer's logo fiasco, and concluded: "We've received the message, and we are not moving forward with the bold-and-lined W." Other parts of the project, such as the UW "traits" to be stressed in marketing materials, have met with more approval and can move ahead, she noted.

Hamdullahpur, who started as provost September 1, introduced himself, tracing his background in Turkey and Nova Scotia, his enthusiasm for teaching and research as a mechanical engineer, and his involvement in administration because "this is the way I can give back to the system — to improve the system."

He and the president were wearing "UW Day" T-shirts in support of yesterday's "mental health wellness" publicity campaign, and Johnston spoke briefly about that. "I think this illustrates a caring community," he said. "We help our friends and colleagues who may be touched by this illness."

Then Johnston gave an update on progress toward the university's "Sixth Decade" goals for undergraduate and graduate studies, research activity and international involvement. "As we are executing the plan," he said, "the plan changes," but it's helpful for people to understand that the changes they're seeing — such as massive building on the main UW campus — are happening not randomly but according to the plan that was developed at length and approved "unanimously" by the university's senate and board.

There is "reasonable progress" toward the goals in some areas, such as the growth of graduate enrolment and research funding, he said. Others are harder: UW is seeking to reduce the student-faculty ratio for undergraduates from 27:1 to 20:1, but the present budget pinch works against that.

Last year, he reminded his listeners, UW imposed a near-freeze on hiring. Exactly a year later, “We have a little more optimism about the financial situation,” but until February or March, UW officials won’t know much about what governments can do for the universities in 2010 and hence what the budget will look like. “We’re making all efforts to be as prudent as we can," Johnston said.

But while staying cautious in day-to-day spending, “we’re being very entrepreneurial" in research and capital activity, with “very complex, multi-stakeholder” projects, he said. He cited UW's involvement in the Perimeter Institute and the Kitchener health sciences campus, as well as government-aided buildings under way on the home campus. “We have ten capital projects, almost a million square feet, at the present time.” And, he added, there's a continued emphasis on private sector support, with a goal of bringing in $100 million a year.

Later in the meeting, a question returned to the near-freeze on hiring: “Is there hope for relief any time in the near future?” Said Hamdullahpur: “I don’t have a good firm answer. There are so many question marks. We are going to continue with our current practice of mission-critical hiring.” Johnston added: “We want to maintain as much flexibility and resilience as we can. We were able to avoid layoffs last year, and our hope is that we can do that again.”

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Johnston on parking: More shuttles likely

Parking was the big issue for those who sent in their questions ahead of time — eight out of 17 questions mentioned the P-word. Johnston addressed the topic in his first remarks at the meeting, pointing out that "we are in a time of change, and there are compressions and parking disruptions. That is a consequence of the Sixth Decade plan. We knew there was growth, and now we’re dealing with some of the consequences.

“We do hear you about the concerns. There is a parking place for everyone on campus; the problem is, it’s not as close to your place of work as it was before.” The campus master plan includes “a number of other measures”, he noted, including “reducing single occupancy vehicle use”, bikes, light rail, and eventually “a multistorey parking garage. We’d like to postpone that day as long as we can." Garages are expensive, he noted and would be likely to boost the current parking fees, which Johnston said are lower at UW than at any comparable institution or employer around.

“The parking fees do have a portion now that goes to a capital reserve," he noted, and money will build up that can eventually be used to build a parking structure. Meanwhile, decisions about parking are handled “by a good collegial process”, involving the Advisory Committee on Traffic and Parking, chaired by a faculty member.

What about short-term measures? “We are using shuttle buses," said the president, "and we’ll probably have to use more.” He asked the campus for patience (“recognize that things are constrained") and for constructive suggestions.

One specific question dealt with parking lot H, which is partly a staff-and-faculty lot and partly dedicated to visitors, including employers arriving for interviews in the Tatham Centre. If that space is lost to the proposed student services building, Tatham visitors will be assigned to lot A on the far side of University Avenue, Johnston said. (Vice-president, administration and finance, Dennis Huber has said that the student services building would likely take about half of the present H lot out of service.)

Another question asked why people parking in X lot, behind the Optometry building on the north campus, should pay full parking rates for mud and inconvenience. “X lot is quickly becoming one of UW’s primary lots, as it turns out," said the president, repeating that "The shuttle program clearly needs to be enhanced.” He added that the plant operations department is looking at improving the walkways leading south from X lot.

One staff member's question posited that “adequate parking for employees is a basic benefit.” Let's not assume that, Johnston suggested, observing that not everybody would benefit equally, and that there are many ways to spend UW's limited resources. “If we put more money into that benefit, that’s money taken away from trying to reduce the student-faculty ratio.”

As the meeting went on, the provost was asked whether support departments are understaffed, in light of the steady growth in their workload produced by such things as the expansion of graduate enrolment. "We manage those units to the level that we can best afford," he replied, but he added that he's already decided to "study those groups and the resource allocations" to see for himself what the situation is.

Hamdullahpur was also asked how he's going to carry through on his public promise to "meet" everybody who works at UW, some 3,000 people. "I didn't say that I will have a drink with each of them!" he joked, "but I will take every opportunity. I've got lots of time!"

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Hagey Lecture on democracy, and more today

Award-winning ecologist Vandana Shiva will propose a new form of democracy to counter financial, social and climate meltdowns during this year’s Hagey Lecture in the Humanities Theatre tonight.

Shiva (left), author of Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace, will speak at 8 p.m. Admission is free.

A recipient of the 1993 Right Livelihood Award (considered the alternative Nobel Prize), Shiva will give a talk entitled “Earth Democracy: Beyond Dead Democracy and Killing Economies”. The award recognizes "vision and work contributing to making life more whole, healing the planet and uplifting humanity."

Tomorrow morning, Shiva will address a student colloquium with a talk entitled “Soil Not Oil: Food Security in Times of Climate Change”. The colloquium begins at 9:30 a.m. in Environment I building room 221.

Shiva, who completed her PhD at the University of Western Ontario in 1978, is a physicist and philosopher of science, as well as an ecologist, activist, editor and author of many books. Her most recent books are Earth Democracy and Water Wars.

"The Hagey Lectures have always provided a platform to renowned speakers in different fields," says systems design professor Hamid Tizhoosh, this year’s chair of the Hagey Lecture committee. "We are especially excited that Dr. Vandana Shiva has agreed to travel to Canada to share her urgent concerns with us about such pivotal topics as food, agriculture and earth democracy."

In her lecture, Shiva will discuss her views on why democracy is under siege, yielding to both corporate dictatorship and violent extremism from excluded elements of society. "The triple crisis," she says, "needs a new imagination that transforms the dominant economic systems, political systems and socio-cultural systems into living systems that serve the planet and people. I call this re-imagining of society 'Earth Democracy'."

In India, Shiva established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity, conservation and farmers' rights. Navdanya means the nine crops that represent India's collective source of food security. She also launched a school for sustainability on the Navdanya Biodiversity Farm in north India.

As well, Shiva is the founding director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology — a network of researchers specializing in ecology, health and sustainability. She serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization and the World Future Council, and is the vice-president of a global movement called Slow Food International.

Waterloo's premier invitational public lecture series since 1970, the Hagey lectures — named after Gerry Hagey, the university's first president — are co-sponsored by UW and the Faculty Association. This year's lecture is also supported by Alternatives Journal and the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group.

Hagey lecturers are to have distinguished themselves in some scholarly or creative field, with work cutting across traditional disciplines and national boundaries. Previous lecturers have included Nobel laureates in various disciplines, internationally renowned scholars, architects, peace activists, and well-known artists.

Also happening: Professional School and Post-degree Days run today and Thursday in the great hall of the Student Life Centre, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to speak with representatives from 92 institutions, universities as well as colleges, from North America, Europe and Australia. This once-a-year event allows students to find out more about career options, graduate school admission requirements, program specifics, the procedures and deadlines for applications and post-degree certificate programs. Fields of study offered include Business, Chiropractic, Education, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Health Sciences, Law, Naturopathic Medicine, Pharmacy, Rehabilitation Sciences, Social Work, and Theology. The career services website has a full listing.

A star-gazing party on the north campus tonight will help celebrate the International Year of Astronomy and offer visitors of all ages a chance to explore the night sky with telescopes and star charts. If weather permits, attendees will first be able to observe Jupiter and its moons as well as star clusters and distant galaxies. Later in the evening, they may see the Orionid meteor shower, and a spectacular nebula in the Orion constellation. The free event, from 7:30 to 11 p.m., will include a narrated astronomy slide show, along with displays and hands-on experiments. In addition, attendees can enter a raffle to win one of several Galileoscopes, an easy-to assemble telescope that allows users to see what Galileo first glimpsed 400 years ago. IYA 2009 is a world-wide celebration of astronomy's contributions to society and culture, with a particular focus on young people. The star-gazing party is organized by Waterloo's department of physics and astronomy, and UW and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will provide the telescopes. "We're very excited to host to this popular event again," says professor Michael Balogh. "During our last star-gazing party we had nearly 300 people come out.” Light refreshments will be provided; free parking is available at Open Text on Frank Tompa Drive. Guests are encouraged to dress warmly, and bring their own chairs and blankets. An RSVP is preferred: e-mail science@ uwaterloo.ca or phone ext. 38804. Cancelled, weather.

CAR

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