STo:

From:

Subject:

Date:

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

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MEMORANDUM

Senate

C. MacKenzie, Chair

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Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies

ASL 11 accepted as a language 11 course for university admission

(SCUS Reference SCUS 06-16)

May 3, 2006

S.06-73

Action undertaken at the May 2, 2006 meeting of the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies gives

rise to the following motion:

"That Senate approve British Columbia Secondary School American Sign

Language 11 as an accepted grade 11 language course for the purpose of

admission to Simon Fraser University."

Rationale:

University admission policy states that ASL 12 be accepted in lieu of any other Grade 11 language for

.

admission from BC Secondary school. This policy has caused some difficulty, as there is no rationale for

treating ASL 11 differently from other Grade 11 language courses.

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Nick Heath, 4/25/06 1:32 PM -0700, For SCUS: American Sign Language 11/12

Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:32:58 -0700

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SCUS 06-16

To: joah@sfu.ca

From: Nick Heath <nheath@sfu.ca

>

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Subject: For SCUS: American Sign Language 11/12

x-Virus-Scanned: by antibody. sfu . ca

running antivirus scanner

Further to this message I propose

That SCUS recommend and forward to Senate for its approval

that British Columbia Secondary School American Sign Language 11 be accepted as a grade 11

language course for the purposes of admission to Sinn Fraser University.

University admission policy states that ASL 12 be accepted in lieu of any other Grade 11 language for

admission from BC Secondary school. This policy was set by our Senate Committee on Undergraduate

Studies in Spring 2004 and was made in accordance with a recommendation from the Acting Director of

our Centre for Students with Disabilities, who in turn had been asked to review a request initiated by

the Acting Director of Admissions that treatment of the ASL courses be regularized and recognized for

admission to this University.

The policy has caused some difficulty and potential damage to our reputation, particularly with one

school - Burnaby South Secondary/Provincial School for the Deaf. There, ASL 11 is taught to both

hearing and hearing impaired students. ASL12 is not offered. The school could not understand the

rationale for treating ASL 11 differently from other Grade 11 language courses, including introductory

(one year) language courses. Letters were written and widely distributed. President Stevenson

replied to the student and school., saying that "the anomaly will be corrected so that the admission

requirements using ASL are symmetrical with other languages taught in the BC school system."

On investigation, it appears that the recommendation received from CSD was based on incorrect

information received from the disabilities unit at UBC.

I recommend that we accept ASL11 as a grade 11 language course for admission purposes.

Nick Heath

Associate Registrar and Director of Admissions

Simon Fraser University

8888 University Drive

Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6

Canada

Telephone: 604.291.3995