Miscellaneous

Iron Archives: Predictions, Tatham Centre, Imprint Rivalry, Quality of Teaching

Note: This article is hosted here for archival purposes only. It does not necessarily represent the values of the Iron Warrior or Waterloo Engineering Society in the present day.

Winter 2005 – Issue 5, March 30, 2005

Sung Hon Wu, 4B Computer made some interesting predictions for 2010. He states, “As I look at my crystal ball, I see all of the following happening by 2010. Why 2010? Only because anyone reading this article will have graduated by then, so no one can actually check if any of them become true!”

I guess Sung never thought anyone would also peer into the Iron Warrior PDF archives on the website, but I did. Anyway, let’s see how Sung did with his predictions:

“- Star Wars III is going to be a stinker.

– American cars are still going to suck.

– Marijuana will become legalized.

– The Nasdaq stock index will rise to about 4000 before it crashes in “tech bust II”

– Microsoft will still rule the world.

– Google will continue to revolutionize search. By 2010, it will be able to read minds.

– Entrance average to Computer engineering will be 78%.

– Lindsay Lohan and Ashton Kutcher will have been caught making out at some trendy nightclub

– There are Liberal Governments in B.C., Ontario, Quebec, and Ottawa.

– George W. Bush finally retires and goes back to Texas.

– Tuition will get insanely expensive and top $6500 by 2010.

– 30 will be the new 20

– There will be more (way more) mad cows discovered in Canada.

– The Iron Warrior will still have better staff, better writing, and better stories than Imprint.”

I’m not going to go into detail on every prediction Sung made, but I think he did a pretty decent job. American cars still do suck, Dubya did go back to Texas, tuition may top $6000 very soon and will likely not be too far off $6500 by the time I graduate. The last prediction on the list is debatable but I’m not going to be the one adding fuel to the fire.

Winter 2001 – Issue 5, March 16, 2001

As many of you know, the Tatham center is dedicated to co-op, and is a place where many of us go for interviews. Nine years ago, this building did not exist, but was in the process of gaining funding for construction. Chris Farley, Feds President, pushed for the building-to-be in a letter to students.

“As some of you are aware, the University is in the process of designing and constructing a new building to house CECS. There have been extensive public consultations with students regarding design, including meetings, focus groups, surveys and direct student involvement in the design phase. The architects have been selected, and a site (between SCH and AL) has been selected and a very preliminary design complete.”

Farley touts over 100 interview rooms which students would be able to use as student study space which segues into funding shortfalls. “The province only committed 50% of the total costs with the remainder to be found through private sources. This shortfall is approximately $4.35 million.

As a solution, Farley mentions the co-op fee would increase by $25 for 25 years to pay for construction, but the University would continue to solicit donations to reduce the period of time this $25 must be paid by students. “Any monies raised would result in adjustment of the fee: either students would pay less than the $25 fee increase or the fee would remain in effect for a shorter period of time. “

After reading this article, I am now wondering myself if the University has made good to continue fundraising and if that any donations have been made to CECS to reduce the impact of this fee. And just so you know, the motion to add $25 to the co-op fee passed April 4, 2001 and the Tatham Center was constructed as we know it today.

Winter 1991 – Issue 4, March 15, 1991.

“We Don’t Exist” – Kevin Johnston , IW Editor.

“Recognition. I don’t expect any. I don’t really know if I even deserve any. What I do know is that the people who have run this Iron Warrior this term have all put a lot of time and effort into making this a very respectable newspaper.  I sincerely felt that most people on this campus would have recognized this effort. I was, unfortunately, proven wrong by the staff at the Imprint. In their last issue, they claimed to be “The Only Student newspaper in the city of Waterloo”

I was upset enough to make a trip to the Imprint office to talk to their editors. Since neither were available for comment I briefly discussed the issue with some of the workers. The whole issue to them was a big joke. They commented on the IW as being in the same realm as the Gazette; that it was only printed on 8.5”x11” paper, that they never saw any of the issues and that the IW wasn’t a real paper anyways. Well, I’m sorry we don’t live up to their extremely high standards of what a University paper should be.

I guess we’ll have to make some changes to live up to the Imprint’s standards. We’ll just have to:

– Develop a ‘Holier-Than-Thou’ attitude when it comes to other newspapers.

– Start printing pictures of extremely scantily clad people to grab people’s attention.

– Put in some really rude cartoons that will be guaranteed to offend almost anyone.

– Create an arts section that is totally out of sync with reality.

– Have a news section that seems like an extra editorial section.

Maybe if we do this we will gain a little respect from the Imprint staff. I don’t know, maybe I’m overreacting a little bit. All I can say is that I’m glad I haven’t paid my Imprint fee since 1B. Maybe some day soon many other students will see that this would be an effective way to combat the type of behavior the Imprint staff continually exhibits.”

Winter 1985, Issue 3, March, 1985

“University of Waterloo’s Image Distorted” – Lars Wilke, IW Editor.

Lars Wilke had some interesting critical views on the University and expressed them in the March 1985 issue of the Iron Warrior. He speaks about how the University does such a great job of getting great press and industry donations for research but does little to improve the teaching aspect of the University of which it gets so much praise.

“You’re lucky to be going to the University of Waterloo” I was recently told by one of my friends who attends university in another city. “How So?”, I asked her back, seeing no overwhelming truth in the statement. It seems she had just finished watching a documentary by the CBC’s Fifth Estate extolling the university and its president Doug Wright. In the fifteen minute television profile, the university was portrayed as an aggressive business-like institution with strong industry ties; the place where “Doug Wright does it right!” Strange, they never interviewed any of the students.

Such cases of propaganda are not isolated. Last week I went to UW’s news bureau to ask if they had any articles recently published about the University. I was immediately handed a dossier full of pro-Waterloo literature. Without exception the articles glorified and praised the University, calling UW “The MIT of the North” or “the corporate campus”.

The University undoubtedly has an enviable record. It would seem however, that all the success has gone to the heads of the University Administration, as indicated by these many recent articles.”

Wilke continues his editorial stating, “Students suffer in taking a second seat to the research efforts, ” and also takes a jab at University amenities, “Waterloo has a good reputation as an academic facility but conversely a poor reputation for providing social amenities.”

Finally, he finishes with this concluding paragraph “Before UW compares itself with institutions such as MIT (where student/professor ratios are less than 10:1) it should stop ignoring those things which are not so ideal or well publicized. Perhaps then it could justify its claims of being a top notch university.”

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