I..
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S.04-91
SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
MEMORANDUM
El
To: ?
Senate
From: Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules
Re: ?
Senate Committee on University Priorities - additional member
Date: November 23, 2004
Senator Gisele da Silva submitted a recommendation to amend the membership of several
Senate committees to add an additional student. The basis for this proposal is contained
in the attached memorandum dated October 14, 2004. This matter was debated
extensively at the Senate Committee on Agenda and Rules which now forwards the
following motion about the addition of one student senator on the Senate Committee on
University Priorities to Senate for consideration.
Motion
That Senate approve the addition of one student senator to the membership of
the Senate Committee on University Priorities.
Alison Watt
Secretary, SCAR
0
Memorandum
To:
Senate
From:
Gisele da Silva
Subject:
Senate Committee Compositions
Date:
October 14, 2004
Motion:
That Senate amends the terms of reference of each committee of Senate referred to in
Column 1 of the following table by adding the position indicated in Column 2 of the table
to the committee's composition:
Name of Committee ?
-
New Committee Position
Senate Committee on University Priorities
One student senator
Senate Committee on University Teaching and
One student (undergraduate or
Learning
graduate)
Senate Committee on Enrolment Management and
One student senator
Planning
Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies
One undergraduate student
Senate Graduate Studies Committee
One graduate student *
Senate Library Committee
One student (undergraduate or
•
W ?
Senate Graduate Awards Adjudication Committee
graduate) **
?
-
?
-
One graduate student
Senate Undergraduate Awards Adjudication
One undergraduate student
Committee
* This position would be elected by and from among
the graduate student body
** This position would not sit on the Library Penalties Appeals Committee
Rationale:
As a result of the creation of the Faculty of Health Sciences, the composition of many
Senate committees has been expanded overnight. The composition of each of the
committees listed in the motion includes (at least) six faculty members, one per Faculty.
In most of these committees, there are only two student members of the committee. In
every case, the ratio of students to faculty members is less than 1:2.
This is problematic because the
University Act
lays out the composition of Senate
through a formula that states that the ratio of administrators to faculty and students is to
be 1:2:1 - the number of administrators on Senate is equal to the number of students, and
the number of faculty Senators is equal to twice the number of administrators (or
students).
There are a number of committees where it would be unwise to apply the ratio of 1:2:1
when designing the committee's structure - the Senate Appeals Committee, for example.
40 ?
seriously in the case of the committees listed above, I believe that Senate should
seriously consider increasing the role that students play in the Senate committee system.