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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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MEMORANDUM
SENATE ?
H. N. EVANS
To
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From
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SECRETARY OF SENATE
ANNUAL ELECTION, TWO STUDENTS TO THE
Subject. . .QM]). QF GQV RNQ1$,. ]9 81,-82, RE$ULTS
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Date. . FEBRUAR
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198.
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- CHALLENGE
I. GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. The University Act includes the following:
Rules for Elections
Section 42 The Senate shall make and publish all rules necessary and
not inconsistent with this Act in respect of nominations,
elections and voting, and the registrar shall conduct all
elections as are required.
Report of election
Section 16 (1) ?
The registrar shall report the results of the election to
the senate at its first meeting following the election.
There are a number of other sections pertaining to various elections.
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2. Rules of Senate
Senate has approved a number of rules pertaining to ELECTIONS. These appear in
the document "Rules of Senate," available from the Registrar's Office. Some
of the Rules follow:
IV. J. ?
General Regulations Covering Nominations and Voting in the
Elections to Senate and the Board and of the Chancellor
1.
The due date for nominations shall be not earlier than ten days
and not later than fifteen days following the date of the call
for nominations in the case of elections by and from the
faculty members, by and from the students, and by and from
members of staff who are not faculty members. It shall be not
earlier than twenty days and not later than twenty-eight days in
the case of elections by Convocation to Senate and of the
Chancellor.
2.
The 'date of election' shall be interpreted to mean the last date
on which valid ballots are due.
3.
The period for the casting of ballots shall be not less than
ten days nor longer than fifteen days in the case of elections
by and from the faculty members and by and from the members of
staff who are not faculty members. It shall be not less than
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fourteen days nor longer than twenty-eight days in the case of
elections by and from students and in the elections by Convoca-
tion to Senate and of the Chancellor.
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4.
In the regular elections to the Senate and to the Board
balloting is to be completed not later than April 15 in any.
year.
In the election of students to the Board, the two students with
the highest numbers of votes shall be elected.
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5. ?
The Secretary shall state the names of the persons elected.
Recount may be requested within ten days of the announcement
of the results to the candidates. The ballots may be destroyed
after ten days following the recount period. The minutes will
contain the votes recorded.
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1.
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Where a vacancy arises in the case of an elected faculty member
to Senate or to the Board, or an elected student member to
Senate or to the.Board a by-election shall beheld under the
same principles as pertain to the regular election provided
there is at least four months remaining in the unexpired term
at the time for call for nominations.
II. CALL FOR NOMINATION AND ELECTION, TWO STUDENTS TO THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS,
1981-82
1.
In discussion with the Student Society in Fall 1980 this office indicated there
would not be call for by-election to Senate before the clost of 1980, but that the
by-election and regular election calls could be combined in Spring 1981. This
was done, also in Spring 1980 for by-elections and regular elections for both
Senate and the Board. Efforts would be made to fill by-election vacancies as early
as possible, as is normally done. Vacancies could be-filled for the March meeting
of Senate. The combined call also results in dollar savings even if only postage
is considered..
2.
The call for nominations was issued the morning of January 15. Copies of the
election call were made available, with blank nomination forms, at the Registrar's
front counter. Copies for posting and for distribution to individuals were made
available at the Student Society offices. Nominations were to close January 27.
On that morning Notice Board posting copies were mounted by a representative of
the office on seventeen major notice boards on campus.
The usual advertisements for The Peak newspaper were arranged. The two ads
covering Student Elections to Senate and Student Elections to the Board covered
almost one full page, and appeared January 21.
These methods of notification are those which have been consistently used for
many years. There has not been request or suggestions previously for change.
. 3. From time to time the Student Society office was informed concerning the slow
rate of receipt of nominations for the various vacancies.
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4.
No candidate had filed papers in the election of two students to the Board of
Governors before the final date, January 27. This is not unusual. Two in-
dividuals filed on that day, one morning, one early afternoon. The nominations
were in order. No others were received.
When thorough check had been made internally to ensure that there were not any
additional nominations received by the deadline, the two candidates were de-
clared elected by acclamation, and formal letters of notification to that effect
were sent to them on January 29.
5.
Under the University Act and Senate Rules I am to report the results of the
election to Senate on February 9 - assuming the election is completed.
The complaint from R. Powell has been investigated in depth by me, and dealt with
as a "challenge" to the election result. It is my decision that the challenge be
rejected, based on the fact that there are no violations I can perceive of
Senate Rules, nor of Senate general intent as perceived'by me. It is expected
that reasonable notice be given and indeed the length of time of such notice is
set forth in the regulations. There are no regulations and no instructions that
indicate specific procedures to be followed in issuing notice. The same general
procedures that have been followed over many years have been followed with no
prior indication that they are insufficient.
In the past three years the nomination call has been issued on February 12,
January 14,January 15 - this year one day later than a year ago.
I am not persuaded that there are ground which would warrant the cancellation of the
election by acclamation of two individuals who did fulfil conditions in the call.
It is my finding that the call was duly given, in keeping with previous precedent
and practice.
III.
On these findings the results of the election of two students
to the Board of Governors for terms of office from June 1,
1981 to May 31, 1982 follow:
I. J. McASKILL
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- by acclamation
G. T. NcNABB
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- by acclamation
IV.
It is understood that the complainant desires consideration
of appeal by the Chairman of Senate, or by Senate if the
electoral officer's decision does not continue opportunity
for further nominations and election to the Board.
If this matter is to be addressed it should be disposed of
quickly to determine whether the election results stand or
whether further election is to be called immediately.
4.
Elections
to Senate and to the Board
of Governors
1975
Call for Nominations
February
10,
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1975
Nominations due
February 21, ?
1975
Balloting ?
(3 candidates for BOG)
April 11, 1975
1976
Call for Nominations
February 10, ?
1976
Nominations due
February 20, ?
1976
Balloting (10 candidates
for BOG)
March 23, 1976
1977
Call for Nominations
February 21,
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1977
Nominations due
March 4, 1977
Balloting
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(3 candidates
for BOG)
April 7, 1977
1978
Call for Nominations
March 20, 1978
Nominations due
March-30, -1978
Balloting ?
(4 candidates
for BOG)
April 28, 1978
(Irregularities in election
processes caused
balloting to be deferred
until June 20, 1978)
1979
Call for Nominations
February 12, ?
1979
Nominations due
February
26, ?
1979
Balloting
April 10, 1979
(Election by acclamation
declared ?
February 28,
1979)
1980
Call for Nominations
January 14, 1980
Nominations due
January 25, 1980
Balloting (3 candidates for
BOG)
February
21, ?
1980
1981
Call for Nominations
January 15, 1981
Nominations due
January 27, 1981
Balloting
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February 25, 1981—
(Election by acclamation
declared January 29, 1981)
Student BoG Office
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Simon Fraser Student Society
Simon Fraser University
Office of the Registrar
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9 February 1981
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C.
Dear Mr. Evans;
This letter is to confirm the verbal complaint submitted to your office
February 5, concerning notice for student nominations to the university
Board of Governors. As a student active in university affairs at SFU for
several years, and a current member of the university Board, I was not
made aware of the opening of nominations until after they had been
closed.
A couple of observations on this situation are, I think, in order at
this time. It has been my intention, communicated verbally to several of
my colleagues, to run for re-election to the Board since the fall semester
1980. It was my expectation that nominations would be called for during
the end of the spring semester, as has usually been the case in past years,
and I therefore made no special efforts to be aware of the opening of
nominations at the beginning of the current semester.
I fully appreciate the savings to the university which accrue-by
holding normal elections in concert with the by-election to Senate required
this year. However, in view of the fact that this results in a call for
nominations at an irregular time during the semester, I wonder why the
procedures for calling for nominations were not expanded in an effort to
ensure that interested students would not miss a reasonable opportunity to
submit nominations? Furthermore, as an incumbant, it seems unusual to me
that I was not informed of both the opening of nominations and of the
change in period for the submission of nominations from their usual
schedule?
The only reason I became aware that nominations had been opened, was
that several members of the student society informed me that one member of Forum
had told them he had already been elected to the Board by acclainiation. When
I asked them if they knew whether nominations had actually been opened, they
replied that they did not know. I also conducted aninformal poll of
students on the campus and found that at least 80% of those asked did not know
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that nominations had been opened.
It is therefore my own opinion that adequate notice for the opening of
nominations for student member to the university Board of Governors has not
been given, and that opportunity should be extended to students to consider
submitting nominations for the Board for the up-coming term of office.
Respect-f-ui
Ross Powell,
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ly,
student member,
SFU Board of Governors
c/ Dr. Pedersen, Senate Chairman
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