November 2, 1990

Page 2 Iron Warrior

November 2, 1990
Its editorial time. It's short .
This summer , my girl friend and I
were out on Prince Edward Island. One
night we stayed a t a Bed & Breakfast
ru n by two retired PEl folks. That
ni ght as we talked to them, they
mentioned the name of a poet from
PEl, Milton Acorn. We'd never heard
of him, but those folks thought he was
weird. They showed us a picture of
him, and he looked pretty wigged out.
Decided we had to find out more about
him. and did. He died in 1986, but he
was a real kick butt poet. Like
Stompln' Tom, he was from PEl, and
he was a proud Canadian.

.. . to finish off my last editorial on
greed, racism and preJudism (the bad
ism's), I still envision stormy times
ahead.
The minister of immigration,
Barbara McDougal, recently unveiled
t he new immigration quot as to a less
than enthusiastic reception. Premier
o e. upon arnl n h at
increased federal funding
commensurate with the higher
n umber of immigrants would not be
forthcomi ng, spake with a n ominous
tone. Provincia l services would
decline In quality due to t he Inabili ty
of t he system to cope with the heavier
user load.
Someone told me the other day tha t
over 50% of t he popula ti on of
Toronto belon gs to some e thni c
minority. This astoni shed me. I knew
tha t Toronto h ad a very diver se
cultur al populace but over 50%1 The
kinds of Incident s which occured in
Vancouver have not happened yet but
with such a var lety of living habits and
thought modes under one City canopy,
is it not inevitable? Will not our
natural fear of the unfamlllar cause LI S
to invent and s crounge for excuses to
force others away?
I think yes.
Most of you are lame- brained
THE FICHTS
What an elusive target
the brain is! Set up
like a coconut on a flexible stern
it has 101 evasions.
A twisted nod slues a punch
a thin gillette's width
past a brain, or
a rude brush-cut to the chin
tucks one brain safe under another.
Two of these targets are
set up to be knocked down
for 25 dollars or a mill ion.
In that TV picture in the parlor
the men, who linked move to move
in a chancy dance,
are abstractions only.
Come to ringside, with two
experts in there! See
each step or blow pivoted,
balanced and sudden as gunfire.
See muscles wriggle, shine
in sweat like windshield rain.
II} stinking dancehalls, in
the forums of small towns,
punches are cheaper but
still pieces of death.
For the brain's the target
with its hungers
and code of honour. See
in those stinking li ttle towns,
with long counts, swindling judges,
how fUJY ends with the last gong,
No matter who's the cheated one
they hug like a girl and man.
It's craft and
the body rhythmic and terrible,
the game of struggle.
We need something of its nature
but not this;
for the brain's the target
and round by round it's whittled
till nothing's left of a man
but a jerky bum, humming
with a gentleness less than human .
enough to do just that. People who can degree but it will affect something. change the world. Don't belleve those
only think In the short term will be the And so what If It doesn't impact you others and their insidious
death of us all. Open those minds directly right here, right now-- does it convlncations to the contrary. Doing
people, and rove into a place ten, a not stir the blood to ponder on what It once a day would assure a healthy
hundred. a thousand years from now. things may be like then? heart and no need for dentures until at
Use your moldy Imaginations and try If you offended, well, that means least seventy-four years of age.
to conceive of a ttme beyond your next that you are at least reading this. Co.
Editors
Garry Peterson
Alice Zee
Advertising
Matt Manuel
Jag
Contributors
Dean Bums
Bruce Campbell
Wendy Chun
Andrew Conway
Cliff Knox
Eric Langford
Andrea Lawrence
Elaine Miller
Andrew Reeves-Hall
David Rudge
Ted Timar
Graphics Coordinator
Cat Sullivan
Cartoons
Red Helen
Chair
Phil Tayback
Photography
Jeff Lewis
. Layout Manager
. Kowalchyk
meal. Arguably. what happens a That's good. Even better are attempts It-- '/
thousand years In the future would to do something about it. Get ofT those I...--- Layout '
probably not affect you to any gargantuan slogs of inertia and try to Too, Steve, Ted and Eric (if
..... your name has not appeared here
All submasiollJ, unto.. otherwise yet, don't you think ,it's time it did? The Iron Warrior is a forum [ot
thou,b&-provoJdn, and informative Il't.icles
presenced by the academic community of
the University of Waterloo. View,
expresaed in the hop Wmjor, other than
the editorials. are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
the editorJ or the Engineering Society.
The Iron Warrior encourages
submissions from students. faculty and
olher members of the university
cornmWlity. Submissions should reflect the
concerns and intellectual standards of the
university in general, and should be
lypewritten or neatly written, double.
spaced and on one .ide of the page only.
The authors nam.e. cIasJ (if applicable) and
phone nwnber should be included.
stated. become the property of' the Wua
Warrior . which reserveslhe right 10 refuse 1 am not even going to 'teU you to
pUblication of material which it deems suck lemons this time.)
unsuitable. The Iron Wmjor also reserYOI'I
the right to edit grammar, spelling and
portions o[ text that do not meet university
ltandards. Authors will be notified of any
major changes that may be required.
All submissions and advertising
enquiries should be forwarded to:
J.rmUV..JDi2.[
Engineering Society
CPH 1327
University of Waterloo
WATERLOO, Or,tario
(519) 888-4762
Distribution
Fleet Foot Distributing
Service
/
November 2, 1990
PREZ SEZ
SPACE:
THE FINAL
FRONTIER
(Ed's note: Gee, what an original line.)
In this issue of the Sez let me take you on
a trip: a trip into the future of our faculty
and the possible implications of some of
EngSoc's current initiatives. Imagine it's
ten years from now, you've finally
graduated and you're back on campus
hiring some co-op students. You decide
to take a wander through the old
buildings and sec what's new. The CPH is
a big sunrise, the foyer area has been
renovated and enlarged to provide a
student lounge area, lots of comfortable
couches and chairs are filled by student s
relaxing, eating, talking, or studying. Off
the foyer are many offices that you may
have heard about whil e you were an
undergraduate but probably could never
locate, such as t he Iron Warrior
Publishing Office, IEEE, S.A.E., CSME,
Concrete Toboggan, and The Waterloo
Engineering Endowment Foundation. It's
lunch time and you have to make a
decision; C&D or POETS? Next thing you
know someone has bought you a brew
and you're sitting on you r favorite stool.
Talking to some undergrads you learn
that the quality of their lab equipment
and teaching resources has really
improved. How? The Endowment" that
$75 VSC you made ten years ago, is still
paying interest and still benefiting
engineer ing students. Time to get back
to Needl ess Hell , and you can't heIp, but
wish that things had been this good when
you were an undergrad. You know, these
Waterloo students arc really high quality,
maybe you should hire two?
Iron Warrior
Page 3
"'Appalled and dismayed ... "
To the editors,
I was appalled and dismayed to read
April Dunford's Let's Toss ThiJl TOQl
article, on p.12 of Iron Warrior.
When I returned to campus last
semester, I had found that the name of
our mascot had been quickly changed,
before members of B Soc had time to
discuss it. Now I'm hearing rumblings of
being rid of the Ridgid Tool altogether?
What the hell is going on?
I remember the first time I saw the Tool
in the fall of 1987. Majestic. But it was
more than just that. What a perfect
symbol; the application of knowledge.
After all, we as engineers pride ourselves
as the ones who can apply their
knowledge, unlike some of our pure
science and pure math friends. (Gee, I
hope that didn't sound too anti-
progressive, Ms. Dunford.) The Tool is by
far the best engineering mascot that I've
secn. Why is it so necessary to take a
cowardly route, and ditch our mascot? If
we as students have become more
progressive over the years, why can't the
image of our mascot?
The argument has been made that the
Tool is a mechanical engineering symbol,
and former dean Bill Lennox that
"the TOOL does not represent aU of the
departments (of engineering)". Nice try,
Bill. As a mcch eng student, I can assure
you that in all of my five work terms, 1
have never u'sed a Sixty-inch pipe wrench,
or any other applying science, for all
types of engineers.
I would also like to respond to Ms.
Dunford's question, "Why arc no
students in this faculty rallying for
chang ?". It's simple. Most of us like our
mascot, and do not want it to change. I
sugge t, Ms. Dunford, that you are part of
a vocal minority, just as the couple of
callers on the various radio shows arc. I
would also like to point out that during an
engineer's career, decisions will have to
be made that some groups of people will
not endorse. It is our responsibility to
inform and educate the public about our
decisions. Referring to the Tool, I would
hope that all Waterloo engineering
students would have enough fortitude to
stand up to all who question the meaning
of the Tool and educate them, instead of
cowardly "tossing the tool".
I urge a1\ of you A Soc members, to be a
member of the vocal majority. Co out
and support our beloved mascot with
pride, whenever and wherever it may next
appear.
David Rudge
At IBM, you'll be encouraged to pursue your goals, to break new ground and truly
create your own future.
Here's what some recent graduates have been doing.
"I worked on a team developing a
communications software package to
allow different machines on the plant
floor to communicate with each other.
During the development, I travelled
to an IBM location in Raleigh, North
Carolina to learn about a new
product that works with our package.
At IBM, I have the opportunity to
take on responsibility and learn a
lot. "
Julialla Hsu
"Students may fear that they have to
start their careers doing 'drudge
work: My first job at IBM was not
like that. Soon after I started, I was
given total responsibility for
coordinating the installation of a
marketing support database in New
Zealand, Australia and Korea. I was
the leader and made all the decisions
myself. It was very exciting!"
Drew Snelgrove
University of Western Outario
"I'm a liaison between the
marketing rep and the people who
do order processing. I have lots of
responsibility on my desk-
ensuring customer satisfaction. I
also have the freedom to use my
initiative and make decisions on my
own - especially if it's in the
customer's best interest."
Atrdrea Arnott
Wilfred Laurier University
U"iversity of Waterloo

At IBM; the future is yours.
--..- -
----
- - ---
---
- -. ---
- - - ---
-----
------, -
IBM Canada Ltd .... Committed lo employment equity.
IBM is a trade- mMk of Internalioni\1 BU"iiness MachilWS Corpol7ltion. IBM CilIl41da Ltd., 11 relaled comrany. is a uS('r.
Page 4
Iron Warrior
November 2, 1990
WATSTAR
Bruce Campbell
WATSTAR Systems Manager
Is WATSTAR a reliable system?
Graduate and 4th year students kindly
wipe off the coffee they just sprayed all
over the paper from choking. This is a
serious article. WATST AR is certainly
more reliable than it used to be ... Why?
Before I get into that, lets look at the
components of WATSTAR that affect
reliability:
PC's you logon to
W ATST AR software that runs
the PC
Network card in the PC
Network cabling to server
Server
Server hard disk
WATST AR software that ' runs
the Server
Applications software to run
PC
on the
n ... we deserve some of the
blame when things go
.. n "
wron
o
'"
The only component truly specific to
WATSTAR is, of course, the WATSTAR
software. Personally, I would say this
particular component is quite reliable.
However, the rest of the components are
chosen by the W ATST AR office, and we
choose how to install and maintain them.
So, one way or another, we deserve some
of ' the blame when things go ' wrong.
Before you get bored with a long list of
excuses for each particular thing that can
Reliabilty
go wrong, here are the uptime figures for
the three most important components of
WATSTAR(server, network ring,
disk)(other than the WA TST AR softwa re)
for the month of October:
(Ed's note: At this point in the article
Bruce included a table showing values of
the percentage of uptime for the servers,
network rings and disk for all the different
WATSTAR rooms for the month of
October. Unfortunately, my pet koala
somehow got into the disc and managed
to mulch that part of the article so it is
impossible to feature here.
The upshot of the table was that the
network-rings and disk were up 100% of
the time, while the servers in the physi'cs,
systems, mechanical, arts@Hagey Hall
and arts@psych, anthro, sociology servers
had some downtime but were still up at
least 99.36% of the time.)
Ttil
VUI3
IS
'"
AT THE
Is this good? Was October a better For 6 years now the problems with the
month than usual? I have no idea. I rings have plagued us. These problems
didn't keep uptime statistics prior to used to be worse, but thanks to Martin
October and J have no other systems with MacLeod, the sit uation is much
which to compare this. Keep in mind improved. Martin was given a secret
that 99.76% uptime over a month (as on course by the network card manufacturer
the 1308 ring) means there was about 100 and he has perfected wiring and layout
minutes of downtime. Also, some methods for token-ring networks. So why
downtime on the MECHANICAL and is there still some downtime on the rings?
CHEMICAL servers due to two power I bet it has something to do with CHAOS
losses arc excluded. Likewise for some theory. So, if you get frustrated when
scheduled downtime to upgrade the 108, these problems occur, imagine how I feel.
r
1
-:-;3_02_a_nd--:l;-3_0_8_s_er_v_e_r_s.--:;--___ "';"';'--:7"I I've been working on the system for 6
H ... a rin.g goes down, all the years now and we're still only at 99.90%
users tn that room are reliability!
affected ... "
Clearly, there are more difficulties with
the "network rings" than the other major
components. You may have seen some of
these error messages : "Please wait ..... ,
"ri ng exited", "network communication
error". These are usually caused by some
problem with a network ring. (They can
also be caused if you have corrupted
memory in your computer with a
program, or if a server is down). When a
ring goes down in a room, all users in that
room are affected. If this happens during
working hours, there will soon be a
W A TST AR person frantically trying to get
"An awesome new feature
called KICKOFF will be
available later this term ... "
the system repaired. If this happens
outside of working hours, all you can do -
is wait. You can go to another room to try
to logon but this will not be possible if you
are already logged on. (An awesome new
feature called KICKOFF will be avai lable
later this term to allow you to log yourself
off).
STILL NO SEX!
Andrew Reeves-Hall
Organizer, New Reproductive
Technologies Conference
The conference on New Reproductive
Technologies is slated for this weekend,
Novqmber 3
rd
and 4th . If you are
interested in attending please contact
Andrew at 725-5870 or 888-4762. The
conference will be divided into workshop
groups of 15 to 20 students. More
information can be found in last week's
Imprint and in the October 19 issue of
l.ron Warrior.
Billets are also required for the
numerous students from other
universities who will be staying over the
Saturday night. A signup sheet can be
found in the Orifice. There are lots of
puS points for billeting people!
'Shakespeare's Greatest Hits
-A New Age Theatre Review
Cliff Knox
This article was intended to be a review
of Shakespeare's Greatest Hits, the
recent production by Go For It! Players,
which concludes its three day run on
Saturday, November 3.
I had dutifully made arrangements
with the producer to preview the show, so
that I might concoct a tantalizing review
which would entice IW readers to see the
show. The plan was flawless in its
execution. My review was to be an
evocative tribute to a production that's
bound to convince everyone, once and for
al1, that Shakespeare is much more than
just a dead playwright.
Unfortunately, Mr. Midterm reared its
ugly head, and I missed my only chance
to glimpse the show before it goes public .
But I don't intend to let such trivial
matters keep me from giving my review,
so instead of a first-hand account, you will
have to settle for the same self-
congratulatory hearsay that's convinced
me to pay regular admission to see the
production.
Shakespeare's Greatest Hits is not
so much a play, having a distinct plot, but
rather it is a collection of a dozen or so
excerpts from several plays, tied together
by a common theme of Love and
Ambition. Dave Brown, the show's
director, has chosen to update the
situations to reflect contemporary
attitudes within the university
community, but with only minor
modi fica tions to the classical speeches. I
have been told that the show runs a little
under two hours, including a twettty
minute intermission, and is full - of
surprises, designed to delight and thrill
the aud ience.
There are some things you should know
---prior to taking in one of the
performances.
Come early: complimentary
refreshments arc served before each
show. Wear sensible (i.e., comfortable)
shoes: there is some audience
participation, involving sitting, standing
and even walking (nothing strenuous, so
there's no need to skip aerobics class that
day).
Is the show any good? Well, I can't
honestly tell you, but from what I do know
about some of the people involved, I'm
certain that it will be money well spent.
Also, all profits generated by the show are
being donated to Anselma House, so you
know that the $5.00 admission is going
toward a good cause. Shakespeare's
Greatest Hits is not just intended to
entertain its audience, but also to
stimulate thought and discussion about
its content.
The show continues Friday, November
2 and Saturday, November 3, beginning
at 8:00 pm each evening. Performances
commence in the Environmental Studies
I Courtyard (inside the ES 1 Building,
beside Modern Languages), and tickets
(only 55.00 for students) are available at
the door. All proceeds go to Anselma
House, a K-W charity.
November 2, 1990
Iron Warrior
PageS
FROM RUSSIA WIT
LOVE
Andrew Reeves-Hall
Were we really just about to land
behind the iron curtain? "Welcome to
Moscow", the British Airways pilot says
over the public address. Indeed we were!
From September 18 to October 3 five
students from Canada, including myself,
attended the second International
Siudent Pugwash Conference. This
conference is held every two years and
serve as an important forum for
communication between young,
concerned scientists from around the
world.
Our first glimpse o-f the USSR came
from the plane's window. Trees. Trees.
Trees. Creen! Apartment Blocks. The
airport was carved out of a forest.
Disembarking we glare into the stone
eyes of a Russian army dude. Green
uniform. Stunning. Passport control
consisted of a man shielded in a metal
booth. Only his head was visible through
the glass front. My passport and visa
disappeared into his hands. It seemed an
eternity that he stared at it. He too, was in
uniform. They are big on uniforms here.
Throngs of people stood waiting, after
clearing passport control, to exit through
customs. There were two channels:
"Green" for nothing to declare, "Red" for
items to declare. The "Creen" channels
(everything but rubles please!) store. We
cracked the beers as we waited... and
waited. They did put our luggage on
board? As we learned over the course of
our stay, "When in Russia, do as the
Russian's - wait". We arrived to a good
hotel in downtown Leningrad. Many of
the other delegates had already arrived,
more were coming the following
morning.
Breakfast . Our first Russian meal.
Thin bread, "coffee", eggs (I think), and
more bread. I dined with a couple of
Cerman and Italian delegates. We all
headed out to see the city. Leningrad is a
very short city - the buildings downtown
liMy first Russian Revelation
was about to occur."
arc all old and only a few stories high.
Tall apartments were relegated to the
suburbs. No houses. No subdivisions.
Our Russian hosts told us of the severe
housing shortage; when a couple was
married, usually at 18 years of age, they
were forced to Jive with their parents. It
would be several years before they could
get a place of their own. Many marriages
were necessitated by a soon-to-arrive
baby due to a non-existent supply of birth
Andrew, and friends
were deserted and seemed to have been
neglected for several years. My first
Russian Revelation was about to occur.
The travel guide warned me about the
Russian customs inspectors. But
surprise! They stamped our currency
declaration, forms and let us pass.
Welcome to Moscow, USSR!
We still had to find our way to
Leningrad for the conference. Over to
terminal one to catch a connecting flight.
En route our eyes were like dry sponges in
a tub of water. What was this land like?
Was that guy over there KGB? How
many Lada's have you counted? At
terminal one, we boarded our Aeronot jet
for the journey to Leningrad. Inside,
Aerof)ot jets resemble an elongated Crey
Hound bus. It was a free-for-all to pick
your seals. Our pilot loved speed.
Engines on full as we taxied to the
runway. Take off consisted of horizontal
acceleration quickly followed by a steep
vertical assent with a few sharp left and
right banks thrown in for good measure.
While waiting for our luggage in
Leningrad we bought bottled water,
crackers and beer at the hard currency
control products. Often, these marriages
would break down by age 25 and the ex-
couple might be forced to continue living
together with their children and, perhaps,
new male/female friends . Of course, this
docs not happen to everyone but it is ,
frequent.
The nexl five days, from the 22nd to
27th, were filled with conference
activities. There were five workshops. I
attended the Technology and Education
group. In each workshop about twenty
students from various places around the
globe talked about relevant issues. In our
group we discussed the role of technology
in the classroom, distant education, social
barriers to technology and how education
differs between the various countries that
the participants were from.
The evenings were filled with social
activities. Everything was impressive.
The ballet in the gold trimmed, five-
tiered theatre breathed of passion and
control. This particular modern ballet
spoke to my heart like none I have seen
back here in Canada. The Russian
dancers enveloped the audience in
I emotional tension. Another impressive,
The Kremlin: Why don't we have buildings like this in Canada?
cosy theatre entertained us with a jazz
band. Later in the week we saw an opera.
All these venues were very accessible to
the general public. Tickets were
comparatively priced to what we would
pay for a good Blue Jays ticket. The arts
were indeed "for the people".
Also of mention is the subway, 01'
metro. They might as well have called it
an art gallery. The stations were marble
with pillars, statues and chandeliers.
Very clean trains and stations; do the
esca ators ever wove uickly!
Five of us flew to Moscow after the
conference. Unfortunately, due to the
lack of time we managed to visit only the
major tourist attractions. To me, Moscow
is not as impressive a. L ningrad . For
comparison, someone mentioned that
Moscow was to Leningrad what Kingston
is to Montreal.
First on our list was the McDonald' s. In
the lobby are two nags: a sharp red
Russian beside a crisp red Canadian!
(Ceorge Cohen who set up this
McDonald' s is chairman of McDonald's
Canada). Tts big; an entire bottom storey
of an apartment complex and an added
section on the front.
A few minutes walking distance hence
is the Kremlin. A huge russet wall
surrounds several buildings. Outside is
Lenin's tomb and the famous Red
Square. On television, when the tanks
and fancy military hardware is being
rolled through, it seems like quite the
large square. In reality, it is only the size
of the PACt I left the USSR with many
new perspectives; most notably the
realization that "they" are people like us.
The influences of the west are pervasive:
Britain's TV show 'Top of the Pops" along
with western movies were shown regularly
in Leningrad and Moscow. American
greenbacks and Marlboro's are the
desired currency. u bles w re in
traded at 17 to 1 USS on the bJack market.
Gorby, for all his international prestige is
disliked at home. He may have given the
Ru sinn pl'(lple infornhlti()n and
frc-edom but th(' country ~ suffl'ring
from a massive.' <,conomi tkprl'sslon.
Food is in wry short supply and what Is
availabl ' is not that go()d. Church
s rvlc were taking plJ l' r 'gul.uly.
Protest vigils could b found on th lawn
opposite the Kr mlln .
Many of our Russian ho ' ts expressed
great interest in a n eXChange to a
university h r in North America.
Hopefully soon an exchange can be set
up between our university and Leningrad
or Moscow University.
"Oh in Russia it is so good to be, for we
have never ever secn such hospitality!"
Big Macs . a gourmet's heaven
Page 6
Iron Warrior November 2, 1990
CESPC: IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS CONFERENCE
Ted Timar
Last weekend, four students involved
with the Iron Warrior and Enginewsletter
went to the first Canadian Engineering
Student Publications Conference in
Kingston. The conference was hosted by
Queen's Engineering Society and Golden
Words (Queen's engineering paper).
There were 16 universities represented
at the conference, from UBC and SFU to
UNB, as well as two french papers from
Quebec. The papers rangl'<i from solely
technical/informative papers to purely
humour papers. They ranged from
newsletters to weekly 20 page tabloid-
sized papers. The circulations varied
from 200 to SOOO. Some papers arc barely
off the ground, others have becn around
25 years or more.
The conference began with each school
talking about their paper and the
problems they have had . The papers
presented in alphabetical order by
university. Unfortunately, th ey
apparently use a different alphabet in
Kingston.
I"Queens ... arrogant .. "
Queen's began arrogantly by telling us
all that they now have a clean paper, and
we should all follow their example,
because otherwise we'd have the
problems that assholes like us deserve.
They told us about the legal problems
th y had when they weren't quite so
moraly upstanding.
Carleton was next, telling us that their
paper, the Orifice, had been shut down
routinely until 1987, when they stopped
resuscitating it when a coalition of no less
than 26 human rights groups threatened
to sue. After stopping for breath, they
started a new paper, the Vena Contracta
(the turbulence after an orifice), which
has also had problems, but has been
relatively clean. It is now reviewed by the
dean before going to press. Others might
think that they arc stri ct, but this dean
defines it. He won't let them usc the word
"piss" in print.
The third school to make a
presentation was L'Ecole Poly technique
(Universite de Montreal). The Polyscope
had only funding problems because it
has had an informative, technincal and
social direction, much like many people
sec the Iron Warrior.
MacMaster was the next school to
make themselves look like idiots. Their
first speaker was the editor. He pointed
out that they have never had any major
problems. He saw no reason to change
and bring their paper into even the 70's.
The dolt felt that only engineering
students should have any reason to read
the paper, so no one else will ever sec it or
have any reason to complain, because
how could one engineer offend another.
Fortunately, the Plumbline is reviewed
by two EngSoc VPs before going to press.
These people said that they do feel some
social responsibi lity, and openly
disagreed with the editor. I sincerely
hope that they usc their control to make
decisions when necessary.
engineering society is quite
new so it and the Golden Ram, its paper,
arc in a probationary period. For this
reason, it has obviously work\;d hard to
avoid controversy. Their biggest problem
is that they may not use th(' word artsic"
because Arts and S iC'ncl' students find It
offensive. ({ would hkl' to h '<lP lrom
Artsics here if they k'c
1
thi<; way.)
Simon Praser Univorsrtv (,r ,11 r
Vancouv(.'r) only has c.l n(.'w5\lttcr r ght
now, and they haven't even found it a
name yet. Needless to say, they haven't
gotten into any trouble.
The University of Alberta (Edmonton)
has, like many other schools, had
threatened lawsuits resulting from their
paper, the Bridge. They arc trying to
clean up their act, but finding it difficult.
Their pnper seems to keep getting
blamed for problems in other parts of
engineering.
The commiSSion finally ruled in 1984,
finding four individuals and the
Engineering Society guilty.
The case was appealed, to the
Saskatchewan Court of Queens Bench,
who overturned the decision. The
Human rights commission appealed this
to the Saskatchewan court of appeal, who
upheld the decision of the previous court.
So.the case went to the Supreme Court of
Canada. who finally, in March 1989 threw
the case out.
The University of Toronto has the
oldest engineering school in Canada.
The Toike Oike is also the oldest
Engineering paper. They started some
time in the 19005. They have been one of
the worst papers in Canada over the
years. Since 1989, they have tried to make
the paper a clean humour paper. They
have failed on both counts.
"URe has lost their archives of The Saskntchewan editors pointed out
The University of New Brunswick
(Fredricton) publishes a paper from start
to finish in less time than it takes us to do
two pages. Their entire paper is laid out
on a desktop publishing system by one
the Red Rag ... they were thnt right now, they are looking like the
f
' d If responsible paper as two of the other
Lc_o_n.-1.s_c_a_t_e_,_ .. _________ -..l papers arc getting in much more trouble
cont'd on page 7
UBC has lost their archives of the Red
Rag, as they have been confiscated by the
Women's Centre. As a result of their
cumulative problems, the University has
stopped collecting fees for their society.
This summer the society was fined $15
000, for its racist publications. However, it
is worth mentioning that Kokanee beeT is
DEFINITELY not as good, and that one of
their delegates can party almost as well
as Eric Langford. (But was more out of
control when sober than Eric.)
The University of Manitoba
(Winnipeg) said that their main
problems have been funding. They
barely made it to the conference. Their
paper runs on a the frayed ends of the
engineering societies shoestring budget .
Many of the schools have had legal
problems, and told us about how large
their legal files are (UW EngSoc was
threatened with a lawsuit in 1985 over
EngiNews.) No paper was able to
compete with the niveTsity of
Saskatchewan's Red Eye. In 1979, they
published an offensive article. In 1980
this issue was taken to the Saskatchewan
Human Rights Commission. In 1981,
another article was added to the case.
CONFERENCE
FOR CIVILS
Eric Langford
The theme for the 1990 CSCE
(Canadian Society for Civil Engineers)
student conference was High Technology
in Civil Engineering.
The conference began with the
students chapters meeting. We met
other CSCE student members, discussed
what each chaper was doing and shared
ideas. Everyone agreed that
communication between chapters and
our voice to the public required
improvement.
A major outcome of this meeting was to
augment communication, using existing
networks. These networks include
electronic mail, Canada Post and the
CSCE journal.
The discussion on hi gh technOlogy
provided some exciting and insightful
talks on practical experiments using the
wind tunnel, high strength concrete, and
the advancement of technology - should
we be using high or low technology in the
future? There was no lack of discussion
and questions for the panel.
Aitcrwords we weTl' t:lken on a tour of
heir famous boundary IJyer wind tunnel,
their soils lao and their CAD/CAM 1,1b.
A good time was had by ,111' ext years
::onfl'rence will b(' hl',d at thl' L niv('rsity
.)t Toronto If you ar int..r' ted in
JOinIng 5 'E W,Iterl) "tu,ient
C rapt r con
t
,1ct Prof (, The J"lr or
lately.
U OF T Loses Shinerama bet, has to
shine shoes.
U of T EngSoc prez delights in shining Tool Bearer's shoes.
. You missed a spot.. .
.,.,.,.".
November 2, 1990
DIRECTIONS
FOR SEMI-FORMAL
Steven Fassnacht
Semi-Formal Director
We assaulted everyone.
After an advertisement bombardment
and the invasion of the Carl Pollock Hall
Foyer, many people ended up purchasing
tickets to the Cotton Club Semi-formal.
All Cotton Club goers should have the
appropriate attire and be ready to enjoy a
thirties evening .. , with funk. The planned
agenda is approximately as follows:
5:00-7:00pm: Cocktail Party in POETS.
7:00 - 7:30pm: Travel to the Cotton Club
(Walper Terrace Hotel, Crystal
Ballroom). A convoy of cabs will be
arranged as well as Gord's Shuttle
Service.
7:30 - 8:15pm: Cocktails at the Cotton
Club.
8:15 - 10:00pm: Dinner with the music of
the Ron Schirm Quintet.
CESPC cont'd
person. The paper goes to press in
finalized colour-separated form looking
as good as ours. All of this, with only 3
years experience, and for less money
than we've ever imagined . Frankly, I'm
amazed. (Th mat rial leaves mt ' n
to be desired, as does the editors ego.)
" ... we are coming from the
opposite direction ... "
We told them the history of Enginews
(died in '85), and the problems we are
facing now. (We still do 100% manual
layout, we would like a new banner, we
would like more humour submissions, we
would like a less-heavy image.) We
pointed out that we are coming from the
opposite direction from most of these
papers. The Iron Warrior started as a
technical paper and is trying to enter the
general reading category, while focusing
on engineering and tech inca I students.
Western used to publish a paper that
they can no longer even name. (It was
called NOTE - If you get offended
easily, don't read this "The Engineer".)
Their new paper is called the Purple Arm.
In its first year, it was accused of being
sexist, racist, and promoting alcohol
abuse. They have discovered that you
may not even pick on artsies, because
artsies have become a race unto
Iron Warrior Page 7
U""1 v-\.. \',
Fig. 1 : The Magic Wonderland of downtown Kltchener ...
(1lJ L.c\,,)e 6
.... .. l;"t,S.
Can the Walper Terrace?
10:00 - ... : Dancing with FUNK INC!!
Anyone wishing to drive is encouraged
not to drink alcohol.
We would like to thank the following
themselves. I always knew Westernites
were strange.
The University of Ottawa spoke last. I
will use this opportunity to publicly
apologize for maligning them in an article
last winter. At that time, I stated that they
have a clean paper, which is true. I also
said that they have a format that was
copied from ours. which was a foolish
statement, given that I had only looked at
one issue to make this statement. Their
paper is the only bilingual engineering
paper in Canada. The paper does look
quite good. They do have
(unintentionally, I'm sure) many of the
same problems that we have.
L'Univcrsite de Sherbrooke arrived
late. We did not get a presentation from
them. The University of Windsor didn't
come at all. They arc no longer allowed to
publish anything according to their
constitution. Some people have to go to
incredible lengths to stay out of trouble.
II-/: OH,,,,...
\}Jelci;"j

people for their help: Dard?, Red Rooster,
Jackie Morgan and Andrea Lawrence.
We had continuous support and
encouragement that was a great help in
not killing everyone who smiled the
wrong way. These include: Drew Conway,
Geoff Clark, Linda Wahl, various
members of RoadKiIl and the Colonel.
Most importantly, I really enjoyed/hated
the co-work of Stephen Esposito, without
whom there would be an absence of
Semi-formal, and I would have freaked
out on a daily basis.
Western Pig- in- a Poke? ..
No, Car- up -a Pole.
Does this. car belong to you? Well if it does, then you'll find it parked halfway up a flag
pole outSide Alumni Hall at the University of Western Ontario.
The guys down at have been showing their frosh what a stunt truly is. As you
can s.ee from. the pictures, this little mini managed to find its way up a flag pole.
K epm ill mmd that the scunt is coming up fairly soon, get creative, get unky, and do
some stunts.
A special compliment to ASYD's Halloween transformation of the Arts Iibary into a
pumkin. Very fine. Very fine indeed.
DON'T MISS THE TRADITION HUNDREDS SERVED I
U. OF W.
SKI CLUB
PRESENTS ..... WH ISTLER/BLACKCOMB
Co.t: Only $700_00 Capprox)
non-memDeu add S211.00
Cancellation $39.00
G.S.T, 554..00
SKI VACATION I PARTY


J6(; :>
S blVJO
--i J.-sJt-l' s
0,... --i C'.
S.t-jo-t,

HOT-TUBS "
KITCHENS
POOL
FIRE PLACES
NIGHT-LIFE
GOOD TIMES
CALL IAN 884-4505
LIMITED SPACE LEFT
BOOK NOW r
Page 8
Iron Warrior November 2, 1990
ON ALL HALLOW
The Sandford Fleming Foundation
Room 4366, Carl Pollock Hall (519) 885-1211, Ext. 4008
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1
The first ever Engineering Work Term Report Presentation Competition has been scheduled for Wednesday,
November 7, 1990. This is separate from the regular departmental awards for written reports, and involves
oral presentations by the student authors. The Sandford Fleming Foundation will award $300 for the winning
presentation, and $200 each to all other participants. Contact Prof. Paul Calamai, DC 2623, Ext. 3182, for
further information on this term's competition ..
This year's dinner will be held on Thursday, November 15, 1990 at the Valhalla Inn In Kitchener. Tickets are
available from the receptionist in the Dean's Office (Ext. 2718). There will be presentations of work term
report awards, Outstanding TA awards, Entrance and Upper Year Scholarships, and the first presentation of the
Karen Mark Memorial Scholarship for female undergraduate engineering students. This year's recipient is
Linda Hachey (3A Systems Design) from '8' Stream.
An organization devoted to the advancement of engineering education.
November 2, 1990 Iron Warrior
, A
MONUMENTAL
Page 9
TRAN MORGRIFICATIONS
. OCCUR
-
::.
Page 10
Iron Warrior
"WE ARE BOORS AMONG
THE PROFESSIONS."
I
TedTimar
The first keynote speech at the
Canadian Engineering Student
PublicaUons Conference (CESPC) was
given by Claudette MacKay- lassonde.
She Is the founder of WISE (Women In
Science and Engineering), she
organized the first Canadian
ConvenUon of Women Engineers, was
the first woman elected president of
the APEO (Association of Professional
Engineers of Ontario), she was also
vice chair of NSERC (National
Sciences and Engineering Research
Council) . She holds degrees from the .
University of Montreal (BSc Chern
Eng), the University of Utah (MSc
Nuclear Engineering). and the
University of Toronto (MBA) . She also
holds honourary degrees from the
University of Windsor, St. Mary's
University, Carleton and Ryerson.
While much of what Claudette
MacKay-lassonde said Is not directly
applicable at UW, it Is relevant. I feel
that it is important that her speech
receives the maximum audience to
ensure the greatest Impact. She had
many Interesting comments on the
state of engineering today. Her speech
is summarized below.
The existence of this conference is both
a disappOintment, and a relief. It is
depressing that engineering papers have
such a bad reputation, but it is comforting
to find that there is concern about this
image.
I
Uwe need to start from I
scratch."
Many engineering papers play a
central role in the creation of a negative
image of both engineering school s and
the profession as a whole. Incremental
changes will not be sufficient. We need
to start from scratch.
It is not whether or not there is a
problem, but whether a problem is
perceived to exist. She, through
conversations with journalists and
friends, had formed a negative image of
many enginccring papers before having
actually seen any of them.
"All it takes is one gory, masochistic,
homophobic or slightly pornogralJhic
picture with appropriate subtit le, plus
some major media attention, and you're
on your way to having everybody think
that these papers are repulsive garbage
all the time."
All problems happening on campus
are automatically blamed on engineering
students now. Last year when the panty
raids at Wilfred Laurier University
caught the attention of the national
media, the Toronto Star, a respected
paper, blamed it on the Laurier
engineering students. Wilfred Laurier
has no engineering students.
Canadians who have never seen an
engineering paper, never even gone to
university, have their views molded
purely by the media. If the media say
that engineering papers are trash, it's
accepted by the public. "they develop a
mental image of a typical engineer -- not
exactly the image of a champion of social
rights. H
University students who see
engineering antics develop a clear
picture of engineers, that they don't
forget. "We are the boors among the
professions. "
Many older professionals are telling
her how bad engineers were even in
those days. It makes it clear that they
think that engineers are worse now than
before. The old stories get perpetuated,
being passed on over and over again.
liThe issue is definitely not
freedom of speech,"
The issue is definitely not freedom of
speech. The issue is not of people not
being able to take a joke. The issue is
perception. It is now in our court. We
must take the challenge, and make the
drastic Changes that are needed to
revamp the image of student engineers,
and engineers in general.
Patchwork solutions will not solve the
problem. Merely changing a
publications name, or creating a cynical
editorial policy will not satisfy the public.
We must make clean and total Changes.
"Playboy magazine could never become
Psychology Today. H
We must stop blaming the media. We
must stop claiming that the problems
have been blown out of proportion. The
media has been focusing on us for some
time, and it will just get worse. But we
must not blame the image on the
messenger.
We must understand the tactics of the
media. We must realize that all the good
we might do in the world can never justify
the bad things that we do, that they see as
the end for which we go to such lengths.
Public opinion is not based on a "balance
sheet of good and bad deeds ."
"It does no good to blame the media.
Nor can you afford to ignore them. They
will not go away, so you must learn to deal
with them in terms that meet both your
agenda and theirs. "
We cannot blame our critics for not
seeing the joke. Nor can we blame them
for choosing to read the paper, knowing
that it might offend them. We must stop
using defensive arguments.
It is hard to persuade the Canadian
people how useful engineers have been,
when they are far too caught up in how
boorish engineers are.
We cannot ignore public opinion and
just try to do a good job anyway. In the
year 2000, they are predicting a shortage
of 30000 engineers in Canada. More than
half the population is female, but only 3%
of practicing engineers. We cannot
afford to scare them away. Women now
make up 40-50% of graduating doctors
and lawyers, but only 15% of grad uating
engineers. While there are many factors
keeping women out of engineering, we
cannot deny that the image of boorish
engineers plays a part.
You have every right to print
tastless jokes,
Engineers have a reputation of being
more concerned with cold technology
than human needs. While this is
obviously false, it is part of the image we
must dispose of. We can no longer afford
to:
"carry the baggage of a boorish image."
"You have every right to print what you
like within the laws that cover obscenity,
libel and slander.
You have every right to print tasteless
jokes.
"What is in question here is your
judgement, as fledgling professionals
who are going to be paid for making
sound judgements."
It is important when making these
decisions to remember that what is
socially acceptable today may not be
tomor'row. We cannot afford to have
people thinking, "another patch job."
Make the clean cut from the past. This
is the tougher path, but the only one that
will allow us to dispose of the extra
baggage of a boorish image. We must
look at all of our traditions and evaluate
their usefulness.
It is time to start anew. Create new
traditions. Create the image of a caring
engineer. The public, and working
engineers already see us as part of the
profeSSion, without the benefits, but with
the obligations.
WATERLOO ENGINEERING
ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION
CURRENT TOTAL

THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO DONATED
l'JEIIB GlIJFT 1'JEIA l' OClEIBJPS ON GlIVlING
November 2, 1990
WHY EVERYONE
SHOULD HAVE A
YEARBOOK
Steve Shoshan
I went home last weekend . It was great!
I got to see my family and my friends
from home, all of whom had forgotten
what I look like. .
That wasn't the best part of the
weekend, though. No, by far the the most
fun I had was on Sunday afternoon, when
I started looking through myoId high
school yearbooks.
The memories came flooding back.
Old teachers, old friends, high school
crushes, proms and all the time I spent
just hanging out in the hall -- all of these
things came to mind as soon as 1 opened
the front cover.
Remember the front cover? I'll bet that
every yearbook has basically the same
cover. They all have some strange design
on the front, along with some strange title.
None of these titles ever make sense. In
fact, the most popular yearbook names
seem to be the strangest ones. Ours, for
example, was called "Spectrum". I have
no idea where anyone got that name.
Other names that I've heard, such as
"Twig" and "Spittoon"; don't make any
sense either.
Aren't candid photos great? I love
them. They're my favourite part of the
yearbook. They make school look like so
much fun. Even boring activities, such as
studying in a hallway, look interesting in
candid photos. I guess it's because these
photos bring such feelings of nostalgia
that they make us forget the more
mundane aspects of our high school
careers.
There was even a candid photo of little
old me in the 1986 "Spectrum". I was was
so excited when I first saw it. After all,
only popular kids get in the yearbook,
right? Well, maybe not.
Remember all of the wild and wacky
autographs that people put in your
yearbook? Some were really strange.
One guy wrote me an entire 50-word
caption in Hebrew, Others engaged in
strange forms of humour which I will not
describe for fear that they will one day be
attributed to me.
Most of the little notes that people
wrote were pretty typical though. There
were two types: the female autograph and
the male autograph.
The female autograph goes something
like this:
"Dear Steve: I was really glad to
have met you this year. Wasn't
geography class wild? It was really
funny the way you used to argue
with Mr. Daniels in English class
all the time. I'm really glad you
became friends with Jill this year
because if you hadn't, I would
never have met you!! Have a great
time at the LOO, and I'll see you in
the summer!!! Love, Paula. p.s.
Give me a call when you visit T.O."
Then there was the male autograph.
"Yo sexy Stevie Shoshan!! It was
really wild bein' yer bud these past
few years. Wasn't Del's class just
crazy. You're a really good soccer
player. Party hearty at the LOO.
Yer bud, Fish."
Isn't it weird that two people can say
basically the same thing, but one sounds
like a human being and the other sounds
like Sean Penn?
I hope to be able to remember my
Waterloo years as fondly as I did my high
school years. There's nothing like a
yearbook to bring back memories. As far
as I'm concerned, thirty bucks is a small
price to pay for that kind of lasting
enjoyment.
November 2, 1990
Iron Warrior
so eway
to av id doing the same thing
for the next forty years.
Life's been pretty good so far. You've
kept moving-taken all the right
steps along the way (for the most
part). And now you're ready for the
biggest step.
You'll be getting your degree from
a top school. You're about to find a
great job.
The question is: which job? And
will it have the potential to interest
you for a whole career?
You've probably heard the story of
the job applicant who said he was a
shoe salesman with fifteen years expe-
rience. "No," corrected the recruiter
interviewing him, "you've had
six months experience thirty times."
Isn't there some way to keep
challenging yourself in new and
different areas?
Andersen Consulting offers you
the opportunity to work on a variety
of projects-with clients in a wide
range of industries.
We are the leader in helping
organizations apply information
technology to their business advan-
tage. Every hour of every business
day, we implement a solution to help
one of our more than 5,000 clients
worldwide.
What makes that possible is the
quality of our people. And the quality
of our training. We're known for both.
Because business and tech-
nology are ever-changing, we see
training as a continuing process. And
our $123-million Center for Profes-
sional Education in St. Charles,
III inois, is just one measure of our
commitment. We train you for a
career-not just a job.
Does the idea of forty years of
knowing exactly what you'll be doing
each week scare you? Then don't
settle for that. Demand challenge
and variety. Come talk to us. And
find out more about a career with
Andersen Consulting.
ANDERSEN
CONSULTING
ARTHUR ANDERSEN & CO., S.c.
Page 11
1990 Andersen Consulting. AA & Co .. S C Andersen Consulting IS an equal opportunity employer Where we go from here
w
Information Session - Wine and Cheese
Tuesday November 13
University Club, 6 - 8 pm
Page 12
Iron Warrior
November 2, 1990
!AMllY CIRCUS by Jack Lelcourl
OEDC
WendyChun,
Have you ever secn something that you
knew you could improve? Ever wanted
the opportunity to show the world exactly
how creative you are? Ever wondered
how you could rcap more benefit from
the hours you spent agonizing over your
work term report or workshop project?
Broke?
Then the Ontario Enginccring Design
Competition (OEOC) is for you.
About the OEDC
.. Look mommyl Billy's doln' Dolly's nallsl ..
OEOC began in 1980 and was created
to provide engineering students with an
opportunity to participate in a
competition that promotes excellence
and ingenuity in engineering design and
communication. It is entirely organized
and run by students of the host university.
The 1991 competition is to be held at the
University of Waterloo on March 1, 2 & 3.
The competition is open to any full
time undergraduate engineering student
enrolled in any Ontario university.
OEDC has been a highly rewarding
experience for all those who have bccn
involved in the past. We, at the
University of Waterloo, wish to carryon
this tradition and hope that you will help
to make this the best competition yet.
WESTMOUNT PLACE PHARMACY
50 Westmount Rd. N., Waterloo, ONT.
OPEN DAILY: 9am - 10pm
Sundays & Holidays: 11 am - 9pm
WE ACCEPT U of W STUDENT HEAL TH PLAN
.:.: ......................................................................................................................................................................................... .
+ + .................... + + +.+.+ +.+.+.+.+ +.t
ATTENTION ALL UNDERGRADUATE
ENGINEERING STUDENTS
YOU ARE INVITED TO AN OPEN REVIEW OF
EXCHANGE PROGRAMMES AND THE NEW
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES OPTION IN
ENGINEERING
Student exchange programmes are currently set up with
Universities in:
Australia
France
Japan
S. Korea
England
Germany
N. Ireland
Switzerland
At this meeting the faculty exchange co-ordinators will
outline the principal features, i.e. admission and
application procedures.
DATE:
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16, 1990
TIME: 1:30 P.M.
PLACE: CPH-3385
Why Participate?
Participation in the Ontario
Engineering Design Competition helps:
To encourage the interaction of
engineers from industry, government and
academia with engineering students in
order to strengthen the bonds between
these sectors of the profession.
To provide undergraduate engineering
students with an opportunity to test and
develop their skills in practical problem-
s9lving, design and communication, as
well as to learn from the successes and
shortcomings of others in a competitive
environment.
To promote a better understanding and
appreciation of the engineering
profession among students and the
general public.
Eligibility
Any full-time undergraduate
engineering student enrolled at an
Ontario university is eligible to compete.
Work done by engineering students
during a work term or summer
employment may be eligible. However,
the student must obtain written
authorization from their employers
allowing their work to be presented at the
competition.
Students wishing to enter term work in
one of the categories may do so provided
that any designs submitted are their own.
Competitors may enter any of the
following four categories:
Entrepreneurial Design
Entrants are challenged to .design a
marketable product or service not
currently available in Canada. This
portion of the OEOC promotes Canadian
self-sufficiency in technology and also
creates an environment where students
may test their ideas in a real-world
situation. The first place winner in this
category will receive the Northern
Telecom Award.
Corporate Design
Entrants are given an actual
engineering design problem faced in
Canadian industry and are challenged to
solve it. This category offers a chance for
students to use their ingenuity and
education. The first place winner in this
category will receive the Ontario Hydro
Award.
Editorial Communications
Entrants are challenged to present a
viewpoint on the social impact of a
current technological issue. Often
engineers are faced with decisions
regarding the application of technology
and its impact on society. This category
encourages competitors to identify such
an issue and form a well-supported
argument. The first place winner in this
category will receive the Bell Canada
Award.
Explanatory Communications
Entrants challenge themselves to take
a complicated engineering or scientific
process and explain it in understandable
terms. Part of an engineer's
responSibility is to explain highly
specialized subjects so that others may
understand what is involved. The
effective use of communication skills is
emphasized in this category. The first
place winner in this category will receive
the General Motors of Canada Award.
Awards
First, second and third place winners
will receive awards of $1000, $750 and $500
respectively. Also, first and second prize
winners will be invited to participate in
the Canadian Engineering Competition
that will be held at Universitc de
Sherbrooke in Quebec on March 22, 23 &
24,1991.
Judges
Judges for each category are selected
from both industry and educational
institutes, on the basis of their
involvement in enginccring and business.
For More Information Contact:
Andrew Reeves-Hall OEDC Campus
Rep1991
Engineering Society A
or
Wendy Chun, On Campus Publicity
(519) 884-7711
The success of the competition in heavily
dependent on the support and loyalty of
Corporate Sponsors, Deans and faculty
members plus the respective engineering
associations and student societies.
", SAPL.L1, ON 81G- CHANcE -"(0
HIS CRE!?161Llf'1 AS A
SERIOUS AC-1OR. Nf?EV' ON '1He
CU 117 NO- F'LOOR., W"'EN
-THE' C/1R.Ec-rOI<. I7ECI f?Ef? i"HAf'
\\ 1H e cooK,) -(tiE" 1H1F) HIS WIFE".,
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November 2, 1990 Iron Warrior Page 13
STUDENTS ONT.V.
Elaine Miller
OK everyone, let's think about this very
seriously. Do you believe that the current
atmosphere here at UW in engineering
is a sexist one? Do you think that female
students are discriminated against? Do
you think that female students are made
to feel that they should not be studying
engineering?
" ... 1 resent all the talk about
how bad we are ... "
I was asked essentially this question
last week after I was invited to be a guest
on Dini Petty's morning T.v. talk show.
My answer was "No". I have always felt
comfortable in this atmosphere and quite
frankly I resent all of the talk about how
'bad' we are. Truthfully, there have been
entrenched traditions which either
degraded women or indicated that
engineers a re expected to be ma Ie,
however, these have mostly been
eliminated over the years. Currently, the
incidents of sexism can be pinpointed to
specific sexist individuals. When
Katherine and A.J. (the off-stream vicc-
president and president of Engsoc) were
the target of a pretty insulting stripper-
advertizement 'joke', most students
thought it was in pretty poor taste, and it
was done by an individual or small group.
It is my belief that it did not represent the
actions of even a minority of our
engineering society.
But back to this talk- show. The iSliue or
discussion was sexism on campus. We
first heard from Nini, a woman who had
just graduated from Queen's. She was
involved in that the 'No means
1HE PEIIScN FRoM ErJV'Ror.JMrrJ1'AL
SA,I' :SHE' WAS GLAD 10 UAYe
ASStiAGEO ArJl7 -rfiAIJI(Er?
'(HEM FfJR. v,SCVSS/tJc:r COr/CERNS.
kick her in the facc' signs were
intolerable. As it turns out the women
involved in this protest received death
threats, rape threats, they were physically
harassed and often followed: all by male
Queen's students. Needless to say she
feels that there is a great deal of sexism
on campus.
Then it was my turn. I expressed that
fortunately, in the faculty which is
supposed to be horribly sexist, I have had
little experience of it here at UW. Much
to my surprise, the ensuing conversation
digressed into Nini trying to prove that
UW engineers must be sexist (I guess
since that is the nature of all male-female
relations). For example, I said that yes
there certainly have been occasions
where I have felt out of place in a large
group of males when I am the only
female. Her reply was that this showed
that the power balance resting with the
men had deliberately intimidated me
and therefore I was discriminated
against. NO, I felt out of place as a single
man in a group of twenty women would
fcel.
It was very surreal.
It was more surreal when I returned to
the studio audience to find myself
surrounded by women involved in
women's issues here at UW. A couple
proceeded to condemn my opinions
"How dare you say that there is not a
problem of sexism on campus .....
(complete with waved, pointed finger).
"But I said not in my experience .....
So there I sat for the rest of the show,
horrified. Did I truly say that there is no
sexism anywhere? That isn't the casco
One workterm in industry will prove that -
- Six have confirmed it beyond doubt.
And 0 course. t arger question: Am I
naive to have hoped that people who are
concerned about sexism would support
someone who says that it really isn't that
bad anymore, in UWengineering?
'1AI/-
Mill;;>
ASStJA(1'NCr HER
FEARS. -
Farah's Food Mart
In Store Bakery
Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Deli Counter
Full Line of Groceries
Man In Store Features
@[p)@!1i) 7J WM!1@@rk
[ft]} Q 1] [ft]}
886 - 9933
Universit s Plaza II, Waterloo
Since the show, I have spoken to
several people. Most have agreed with
the opinions I expressed. However I was
saddened to hear of an example of
sexism which we still seem to feel is 'just a
joke'. That is, the professor who
intersperses his technical slides with
pictures of topless women. Here we have
a man who thinks this is funny and
SURVEY
SEXISM
Andrea Lawrence
Vice President External
During the previous Congress of
Canadian Engineering Students
(CCES) last January, a mandate was
passed on to all Engineering Student
Societies to publish a report dealing with
sexism in engineering faculties at each
respective university. Summaries of
these reports will be presented at the 1991
CCES conference.
To aid in compiling a report
representative of the entire enginccring
student body (both males and females), a
brainstorming session will be held on
Saturday November 3
rd
at 4:30 pm in the
orifice (CPH 1327). Anyone remotely
interested is recommended to attend ...
even if you don't have anything specific to
say and just want to listen.
The following questions will be up for
discussion: Does a problem of sexism in
the engineering faculty exist? If so,
define the problem, determine the extent
and the root of the problem and possible
corrective measures. We would like to
hear about specific incidents and general
perceptions about the atmosphere here
at the University and during co-op work
terms. If you have personal concerns or
cannot attend the meeting please come
and talk with me or leave a message in
my box in the orifice, CPH 1327.
A survey will be distributed regarding
your perceptions of sexism here at the
university--please take the time to fill it
in. If you have not received a survey from
your class reps please pick one up in the
orifice. Completed forms can be dropped
off in a box (put out especially for these
forms) in the orifice.
appropriate: he had been using these
slide for years. A single individual
protested and left the class room,
resulting in criticism from the class for
not being able to take a joke. This
example surprised and disturbed me for
two reasons; it happened within the last
year and only one person was prepared to
protest. Surely people understand that
this sort of bias is inacceptable in either
the classroom or the workplace.
A sociologist on Dini's show was invited
to give the viewers advice on how to
recogni ze and eliminated prejudice and
sexism. Hi s idea is worth rep atin : if w
all tell the individuals who act in a racist
or sexist way that there behaviour is
insidious, the chances are high that they
would stop. This parti ul<lrly .lpplic Lf.
yuu ,lrC not tIlt target l)f the slur. A Inal('
vok' sp <\king ..18 inst mall' chauvinism
will be heard.
Following the show, another female
engineer and I w nt off to n electronics
plant to continue with some r scarch we
are doing. On entering one office to
speak with a mannger, his guest did the
old leering glance up and down and up
and down, augmented by "O-LA-LA,
Deux Bon Filles". Thc real world, gotta
love it.
10
0
/0
discount for
students
on corsages and
aJl your floral needs!
e.u. and Frank Quinn 0wnerI
50 WHtmounI Place
Wilefloo. Ontario N2L 2R5
(519) 886-1410
Page 14 Iron Warrior November 2, 1990
VISAGE A VISAGE


THE NEW
Garry Peterson
GP: Why did you decide that you
wanted to be the Dean of
Engineering?
Dean Burns: I was Chairman of Mech
Eng for nine years and I found that to be
a very interesting job, and then I had
eight years as a professor. [thought that
I'd like to take part again in the planning
of where the faculty of engineering is
going.
What do you plan to accomplish as
Dean? Do you have any specific
goals?
Well, a decade ago, I was arguing that
it was a pity that we were turning away
good students by our limited enrollment.
The argument then was that they could
always go to Toronto or Queens, but of
course those schools do not have the co-
op program as we have. I think good
students want to come to Waterloo, not
only because it is a good engineering
school, but because it has co-op.
" ... we are tuming good
students away ... "
One of the things I felt we should have
looked at was how to expand, and of
course we have done it. I3y chance, when
I was taking over as Dean, we were able to
obtain some government funding to
expand the Electrical Engineering
progra m. The other expansion, which of
cou rse you've heard about, is
envi ronmental engineering. We have
been act i ve in environmental
engineering here at Waterl oo fo r 25
years. Chemical, Civi l and Mechanical
e ngineering have ha d g rou ps of
professors who have been very involved
with env i ronmental i s su es.
Consequently, we've tried to merge our
various faculty options, into a
departmental option and that will, in a
few years, probably become an approved
program, like computer engineering.
IN Fi .

TijE
1<JDSl\ Tt>
FEt> L
DERATION HALL
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These changes began before your
time as Dean. Are there any new
programs you plan to initiate?
WeJl I think that these are major
changes, and it will have significant
implications with regards to buildings
and equipment. There is quite a sizeable
doIlar value attached to this expansion.
We are talking about a joint building with
science. The key words which would be
attached to this building would be
environmental and biology. There is
quite a research interaction occuring
between science and engineering in
these areas. As this thing develops there
wilI also be some teaching from
environmental studies. We still have to
work out all the interaction between the
faculties.
So you would like to manage the
growth and change at Waterloo.
If you're thinking in terms of a
dramatic change of direction that is
something which is not going to happen.
We've grown very rapidly in the last 25
years. We've developed gradually over
the years Systems Design, Management
Science, and the Computer Engineering
program. These were evolutions, not
revolutions_
" ... change occurs not at the
t " op ...
There are many changes i n the
research setting, such as the birth of
provincial centers of excellence and th
federa l research centers. These centers
and t he research interaction have
prod uced tremendous growth in the last
decade. This change occurs not at the
top, but up from individual researchers
and groups. It is the fu nction of the Dean
to get these people the help that they
need .
What do you think the relati onship
of the Dean should be with
-engineering students? Do you think
it should be an active relationship or
a more behind-the-scenes role?
Well it has varied. I think the answer
very bluntly is that I started in the job on
July 1st. The new classes came in
September, and now its October. I think I
need to interact with the students to
discover what they need academically,
while also seeing what they need socially.
Mt.f <To" .. ,
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'ALPHA-GE1fi ' N?E" "'THe V'
EXAC l' SAME 0
- -
IN 1HE" SPACE OF A S/N&L
HEA/<:(8A-J, JULIAN WAS
HURLEl7 HEADLONG- FROM HI'S
ORC7EREt7 LIFe 10 foI1eARK
UPoN A wANC'ERIN& C3UES--r
POR VALUeS IN A Cf-/Ao"1/C
WoRLe? CrON' MAIl .
November 2, 1990 Iron Warrior
Page 15
. 7
DEAN BURNS INTERVIEW
For example, the business of study
rooms. I feci quite strongly about this
that we have relatively small areas
available within the faculty of
engineering, and what has happened
over the past few years is that study
rooms -have ceased to be used for study
and have become more recreation
rooms. While you have a mixed mode of
usc like that, people who want to study
are distracted by the people who are
playing table tennis or whatever. What
we are trying to do is look at the
organization of space for the faculty, and
hopefully we are going to get more space
over the next few years. We must see
how we can separate those functions so
that those who want to study can and
those that need to relax somewhere
"We must ensure that people
have reasonable space ... "
of the engineering student population I
think we have a very responsible group of
students. The sad thing is that a few
students can attract a lot of publicity and
I think that automatically that attention
focuses on engineering, but I am not
convinced that things are any different in
science or mathematics, and what-have-
you. It's just that we have this
from the past. I think we have relatively
few problems, however that doesn't mean
to say that we can ignore the problems
that we have.
Nevertheless t.here still is a
perception that engineering is sexist.
Well the mascot is something that
attracts attention. 1 think that we have to
change we have to change our attitude
towards that and perhaps even go to a
new symbol. It has had sexist
connotations in the past, and no matter
how much' you say it doesn't have them
anymore people will always look back ten
years or twenty years. And well, the
argument is tradition. We are only
twenty-five or thirty years into our history.
Does is matter much if we change this
one symbol. I would say there arc much
more important things within the faculty.
I believe that you could make the change
and everybody would be comfortable with
it. I would encourage you to consider a
change, and I believe that the previous
Dean took exactly the same position.
during the course of the day have
somewhere. Students don't have very
much recreational space in engineering,
the Poets pub area is not very large, and
there arc a lot of students. So its not very
surprising things have developed as they
have, but I think we should address that.
We must ensure that people have
reasonable space to go to if they want to
sit quietly. I think it is a very positive
thing. W are not taking space away for
..ot r uses. Civil has already reorganized " ... most effective people are
/' its rooms a little bit. __ of.
'But you are taking in new students
will'tout anywhere to put them.
Well we are taking in new students, but
it will be four years until we get up to new
size and we have already decided on this
joint build ing with science. If you're an
optimist we will have the new building in
the next few years. The only problem is
the economy is bad .
Well, now to move onto some
issues that involve engineering
students and the profession as a
whole. One topic that has come up
recently is sexism in engineering.
Do you think there is a problem of
sexism in engineering at Waterloo?
There have been problems in the past.
There was a newspaper which was closed
down.
Enginews.
And there have been incidents on
other campuses, but if you look at the size
------.
(j
students ... "
But still there is the other probl em of
the public perception of engineers.
You spoke of science previously, and
I think if you contrast science and
engineering you will find that there is
not such an excess of males in
science.
Well] think that raises something that
is very important. I believe the program
where engineering students go int o
schools and speak about engineering
does something to encourage more
women, and men to enter engineering. I
do believe that we have a problem there:
convincing young children that
engineering is fascinating. I do believe
that the way to get through to them is with
students . By all means send professors,
and practicing engineers, but I'm
convinced that some of the most effective
-
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.
peopl e are the crop of engineering
students we have at the moment. During
co-op worktcrms, students ask employers
for some time to go speak to local high-
schools about engineering. Co-op gives
us a wonderful network, as everyone is
dispersed every few months.
N we must attempt to dlallge
attitudes ... "
We won't see the results tor a long
time, but I'm convinced that it is at this
level that we must attempt to change
attitudes. Eric Langford presented the
Engineering and Science Quest proposal
to me and the Departmental chairs. We
feci that the idea of exposing high-school
students to science and engineering is
excellent. This type of long term program
is a wise investment in the future.
Going onto olher Ihings ... the lack
of (un ding for engineering. The
amount of money for engineering
has declined in the lasl few years.
How do you propose to deal with the
lack of government interest in
education?
You've got to be careful here. We're all
aware that the health care system is
saying that they don't have enough
money. The federal and provincial
governments have many demands upon
them. The demand for education is very
important, but it is just one part of the
total picture. 1 don't think that we're
going to sec sudden dramatic changes in
the level of university funding. I hope
that they will be more receptive to the
idea that education is ;n tl1l'
future of the ountry. Howcwr, at lhi'
same time I think that W(' h.lve to
undertake new initiatives on basis that WI.)
have been promis('(i al least some Icvel
of extra funding, and as WI' hopi' that as
plans go along the pressure for
funding will grow.
"1 have 110 simple
solutio"."
I have no simple solution. If I did, (
would be in great demand. Everybody is
co ncerned about the equipment
replacement issue, in the faculti es of
engineering across the country.
Everybody is concerned about the need
to use computers in engineering
education. This computerization is the
big change in the last decade and it costs
us large amounts of money. As you walk
through the building you see huge
numbers of computers. They come into
first year and within three days, they're on
WATSTAR.
We've just finished a review of the total
WATSTAR network, and we have quite a
few original PCs. These old PCs have
maintenance problems, so we're talking
about replacing 70 of them. How are we
going to do it? Well we are fortunate that
the students have made certain extra
commitments to the university. We are
recommending that some of those
monies will go into the WATST AR
renewal. The alumni are supporting us
and some of those monies may also go
towards WATSTAR.
There is no simple solution to the
funding problem. We are trying to find
new sponsors, to encourage alumni to
help us, to encourage students to
continue the VSc. There is no one
solution.
JI ... closi1tg the engineering
schooL."
Many engineering schools, SUdl as
Queens, are going 10 be dosing down
on December 6 in remembrance for
the students murdered at L'Ecole
Poly technique, 15 Waterloo planning
o . g
Not that I'm aware of. I haven't been
asked by anyone, until you raised it now,
,lbout losing thl' 1'l1ginl'l'rinH school, bllt
that would how .HI II1f1m'lIl'!! on thl'
overall l'x,lIniMlinl1 SChl'dlllt' (or Ihl'
uniVt'rsity nnd CCll1sl'qlH'1111y would h .... vl'
to be pl,mnl'J Inng In ,ldv,II1C1.'. That
dOl'sn't meitll to s,IY th..lt I'm not
concerned about what happened at
L'Ecole, By chance, I have had it long
connection wilh L'Ecolc, in fact I hilVC my
iron ring from there and milny of tlll'
women wer in nwchanical t'nginL'cring
which is the department I have a
connection with there, I certainly think
wo could do somethi ng, and if the
engineering society w(lnts to suggest
something which doesn't disrupt the
exam schedule, then I'd certain ly help
them with it.
Well. .. thanks for your time.
You're welcome_
,
-
Page 16 November 2, 1990
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