Spring 1982 – May 27, 1982
Mark Liddy reported on the Quality of Education Maintenance Fund (QEMF) on May 27, 1982 to the then Engineering Society B. QEMF was proposed in February of 1982 as a response to declining quality of education and reduction of government funding for colleges and universities.
“The QEMF, if approved, will consist of a mandatory fee imposed upon and controlled by the engineering students at UW. It is proposed that an initial contribution of $50 per term be levied.
The funds collected would be used in three main areas, equipment, TA’s, and building fund. A total of approximately 2 million dollars was required to repair old and purchase new equipment. A part of the fund would be used to hire TA’s to provide additional aid to students particularly for the first year. Finally a small portion of the fund could represent student contribution to new capital projects.
The QEMF would be governed by a committee controlled by the engineering students of UW. The committee would report and be accountable to each Engineering Society Council. During the S’85 and F’85 terms an additional referendum could be held to decide on the continuation of the QEMF. The total contribution to the fund would be in the order of $200,000 per year.”
The QEMF proposal marked the inception of what we now know as the WEEF.
Spring 1991 Issue 1 – May 17, 1991
Jonathan Seet reported on the last major economical recession with some familiar messages. “Co-op students have been advised to stay with the jobs they held in previous terms and endure any temporary heartache. The placement figures were especially discouraging for the summer term and will probably continue with similar trends for subsequent terms.
This spring term, there are approximately 450 co-ops who are unemployed. About one-half of these are engineering students. It is traditionally more challenging to find a job in the spring term, where employers can easily hire cheap labour without paying for a full-time position. The continent-wide economic recession means that some employers have no choice but to lay off large percentages of its force. Co-ops are usually the first to go and the last to be hired. Some companies believe they are doing these students a favour by hiring them in the first place. In economic hard times, they don’t feel as generous or obliged to do favours for these students.
Lower year students feel the crunch the most as they simply lack the practical experience found in more senior students. In addition to a continual search for jobs and settling for labour jobs, the article also recommends students to switch streams to avoid the job crunch.
Field coordinators believe that the spring term has been as bad, if not worse, than the last recession of the early 1980s in terms of placement. Even though the fall term is traditionally the easiest placement term, coordinators still warn: “Stick with what you’ve got.””
Spring 2001 Issue 7 – May 18, 2001
Alex Matan, 3A Electrical & Arts, reported on a morning of rogue goose attacks. “As early as 8:25am on 8 May, a male Canadian goose was observed attacking anyone walking along the path along DWE immediately outside the Environmental Engineering fourth-year study room. People on foot were considered intruders and were chased and hissed at. Those on bicycles or carrying open umbrellas were taken to be large predators and swooped upon and goosed with ferocity.
One woman tried to pass through the goose’s security zone in her bicycle at low speed and took a hit to the shoulder as the goose flew at her to defend his territory. She was knocked off her bike and into the wall of the DWE, but she apparently suffered no injuries. One man who suffered an aerial goosing attempted to punch at the bird, but it is unknown if he was successful in repelling the attack, or if he simply ran out of the security zone and the bird left him alone.
Two campus police officers in black jackets arrived around 8:35am and chased the goose into the CPH courtyard by outstretching their arms and clapping loudly at the goose, presumably pretending to be more dominant, longer-necked geese. A nesting female was later discovered on the roof of the fourth-year room. In the afternoon the male goose was observed patrolling the security zone on the ground and perched from the roof of the fourth-year room, but contained its aggression to hissing.
Campus police were contacted by telephone on 10 May to determine if any particular goose pacification procedure was in place at UW. The officer who answered the phone stated: “We just kind of wing it.” “
Spring 2007 Issue 6 – May 23, 2007
Ali Damalipour of 3A Geological Engineering reported that Jobmine was expected to be retired in 2009-2010. “In the pre-JobMine era, Waterloo co-op students had limited computer tools to use as a part of the employment process. This changed with JobMine in 2004. JobMine was supposed to be a one-stop shop for students and employers alike. It promised to streamline and facilitate the workings of the co-op employment process. While better than the old paper method, it received a cold welcome from students in part due to its lack in ease of use, frequent service interruptions, and the less-than-ideal matching algorithm it used to rank job seekers and prospective employers.
For the new system, instead of purchasing solutions from corporations or using a vendor-supplied toolkit with limited functionality, the university is looking inward for home-grown talent to make life easier for students and employers. As a result of a 2006 report reviewing the co-op process, the university is building a whole new system that is custom-made to address the unique needs of the CECS process.
Projected to be live in 2 years, the new system will be able to handle the capacity of 5000 students in the co-op selection process per term. The developing team will consist of up to five Engineering/math students, five professional developers, a senior student from Psychology/Sociology, as well as personnel from CECS, and student and employer task forces. The idea of the new system is to improve the information-sharing between students and employers and improve the type of information shared. It will not be just about posting a resume, but also about what’s in the resume. At the end of the day, it’s to help students find the best employers and to help the employers identify the best candidates to interview.”
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