From
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PHILOSOPHIES
SENATE COMMITTEE
AND
ON
ACADEMIC
ACADEMIC
OBJECTIVES
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SENATE
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5. 74 —
SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
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1
MEMORANDUM
DRAFT REPORT - SENATE COMMITTEE ON
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Date ?
APRIL 18, 1974
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SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY3
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UNIVERSITY
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MEMORANDUM
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From................
Senate
Committee on Academic
Philosophies and Academic Objectives
ectives
Attached is the report of the Senate Committee to Examine
and Discuss Academic Philosophies and Academic Objectives for Simon
Fraser University.
The charge to the Committee was as follows:
To hold hearings, examine and discuss academic
philosophies and academic objectives for Simon
Fraser University.
To present a report to Senate for its con-
sideration at the May 1974 meeting.
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In fulfilling Its charge, the members of the Committee have
reviewed and discussed alternative academic philosophies and academic
objectives for Simon Fraser University. In addition, we have solicited
comments from members of the University community.
That portion of the charge relating to the holding of hearings
has been not fulfilled. In its initial deliberations, the Committee
members agreed that it would be preferable to hold hearings on the basis
of a document to which reactions could be sought. Thus, the Committee's
major efforts were directed to the preparation of a draft report.
Upon completion of the draft report, the timing was sich that
its publication and the holding of hearings would have occurred when
students and faculty were preoccupied with final examinations. Further
more, presentation of a report to the May meeting of Senate meant that
it would have been impractical to try to incorporate into the report any
substantive changes the Committee might have wished to make on the basis
of the hearings.
The recommendations contained
in
the report, if adopted, will
significantly affect the future direction of the University and all
individuals associated with it. We believe that the reactions of the
present University community to our proposals should be obtained. We
are, therefore, suggesting that Senate receive our report at its May
meetings; that the Committe subsequently hold hearings on the report and
prepare a final report to Senate for consideration at a subsequent
meeting.
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To.................................
Strand
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________________
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Date
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April
3, 1974
President
Subject...
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Report of the Senate Committee on?
....................Academic Philosophies & Academic
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ALTERNATIVE ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHIES AND ACADEMIC OBJECTIVES
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FOR SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
At the February meeting of Senate, a committee comprising a
student (Mr. R.F. Kissner), an administrator (Dr. W.A.S. Smith, [lean of
Arts) and a faculty member (Dr. J. Walkley, Professor, Department of
Chemistr,, was established with the following charge:
"To hold hearings, examine and discuss academic
philosophies and academic objectives for Simon
Fraser University."
Dr. J. Chase served as secretary to the Committee.
The Committe&s RecommendatiOns
The Committee agreed that, within the present post secondary education
system of British. Columbia, Simon Fraser University should adopt philosophies
and objectives by which it can offer its students a unique educational experience
to complement, and so enhance, those educational opportunities already
existing at the-other provincial universities and community colleges.
In proposing a different educational experience, the Committee
recognizes that this must not be a capricious act but must be such that the
University's role (in improving the quality of life by the advancement of its
intellectual* content) is totally harmonious with the needs of this Province.
The Committee thus recommends:
1.
That Simon Fraser University adopt the following 'statement
as its principal academic goal:
"The education offered by Simon Fraser University shall prepare
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individuals to cope with the future in all aspects relevant
to their existence."
2.
That Simon Fraser University does not develop additional
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professional schools but that within our own expertise and resources we
recognize and offer certain professionally oriented courses and programs
in areas not covered adequately elsewhere, and
3.
That these professional programs and courses be placed at
the post bachelor's degree level.
4.
That Simon Fraser University move quickly and responsively
to the offering of complete bachelor's degree programs in the Continuing
Education Program.
5.
That recognizing the potential of the community colleges
(in providing courses up to the second-year Bachelor's degree level)
Simon Fraser University construct its first two years of degree programs
in a manner dissimilar in philosophy to that found at these colleges or
other provincial universities.
6. ?
That the
overall nature of the
university's undergraduate
program be envisaged as
a series of logical
steps, involving sequentially
the acquisition of a general background, training in a discipline, the
application of the discipline to a number of relevant subjects, and
the linking of disciplines via a focus on common problems.
The Committee's Rationale
The request to examine possible philosophies and objectives for
this University comes at a time when all universities are confronted by
persons within and without universities with the blunt demand that we
identify our position in society. Values and problems must be examined
because all universities are forced to make choices between competing
demands. Simon Fraser University must identify its own unique features
and decide how to use them to determine its own road of integrity and
quality. The university which pretends to be all things to all people
is on the road to mediocrity.
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Society faces a future of increased complexity and needs to
make the maximum use of all its resources to surmount present ills and
to plan, and achieve, an acceptable future for all. Within almost a
decade the universities have moved from a position in society in which
their role appeared self-obvious to one in which their costly existence
can be made by some to appear almost superfluous. The general acceptance
of universities as a natural part of our educational system and the move
from high school to university (where education usually ends) as an almost
unquestioned step has changed. Education is seen today to be continuous
throughout life and not limited to the early years. Also being questioned
is the need to link the education of the post-secondary student to a campus
community lifestyle.
If we cannot say what we can do for society and if we cannot determine
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how we can relate in a meaningful way to society, our very future will be
threatened. We might be required to perform functions that emerge from
the immediate concerns of society. The threat is not that we could not
satisfy these demands but that in so doing we would no longer be a university.
In developing philosophies and goals appropriate to this University,
delineating parameters arising from our location, from provincial requirements
and from national demands must be recognized. An examination of these,
with an understanding of ourselves as we now are (i.e. with present potential
and limitations), is found to lead to a relatively small set of academic
alternatives.
What are we now? We are a university of high academic standing.
Like other universities, we have programs of high excellence and those of
less excellence. We have areas of expertise concerned primarily with local
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matters, some with national themes and others involved mainly in the
international concerns of universities. Over the past nine years, we have
collectively established a university of high national reputation. We have
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provided hundreds of students with a thoroughly reliable academic background.
We have both in an architectural and environmental sense one of the more
beautiful of university campuses. We are, comparatively, far more innovative
and experimental in our teaching methods than most Canadian universities.
Like most Canadian universities, however, we continue to offer to our
students a traditional and conservative educational program.
We have done well and have done so without a "grand plan', with
goals set more by departmental dictate than as perceived as fitting into
some integrated whole. Our philosophies are individually conceived and
represent in their diversity the diversity of the educational backgrounds
of the faculty. Why now move to constrain the educational experience
we offer our students to some common philosophic theme? Why set goals
that embrace the whole university rather than continue to develop the goals
of departments? The answer lies in the need for the University, at this
particular time, to decide if it wishes to continue
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offer those things typical
of all Canadian universities or wishes to plan to offer something different.
If the former, then our philosophies must remain ill defined
boundless "nothing-sayings" and our goals no more than "to be what we are".
This being so, the experience of past years suggests that we shall continue
to offer a highly traditional educational experience; that course content
and course structure will continue to represent departmental interests and
will continue to be oriented to graduate school preparation. To the local
community, our role will largely be one of manpower training. If the latter -
if we do wish to planiD off' something different - we [the University community]
must embrace ?
common philosophies and objectives that will establish the
directions in which we wish to go.
We may generalize at this point and suggest that the essential
role of a university lies in the advancement of knowledge and the attainment
of an increased understanding of man and society. This is a historical
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role and yet one which is more valid today than ever.
There is, in fact, no other large sized multi-disciplinary collection
of persons of high intellectual ability assembled in a single institution
to play this role for society.
A second task for a university is to produce an environment
conducive to the personal development of its students, to their overall
cultural development and to their obtaining skills necessary for them to
be contributing members of society.
In a university these two roles should be interrelated and
complementary. The philosophies and objectives of Simon Fraser University
should ensure this.
What was demanded of universities during the '50's and the '60's, they
could do well and be seen to be doing it. The social commitment to educating
an ever-increasing number of young people combined with the specialized
training demanded by society justified an ever-increasing public financial
commitment to the universities. This large infusion of. public funds led
to an unprecedented proliferation of new specialties and sub-specialties
in most disciplines, and an enormous expansion in knowledge, particularly
technical/scientific knowledge.
In more recent years, even before the present lack of employment
opportunities, many recognized thatthe over-emphasized professional training
of students was totally detrimental to both their personal and cultural
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development. We can further see that in the imbalanced. expansion of knowledge,
actively encouraged by the universities, the universities themselves failed
society. The imbalance of the increase in technical knowledge over man's
understanding of man and his society has left a desperate legacy for
man's future. The total overview of man's future, which is surely the charge
of the universities, was not there.
The dream of Western society of a future in which life will be a
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matter of relatively indolent leisure crammed with material luxuries is
with us yet. This dream, dominant in our concept of the future, was
founded largely upon the tremendous technological progress of the late
'50s and throughout the '60s. The '70s have seen technology not only
reduced to impotence by seeming barbarity but even, in itself, create a
real threat to the very survival of the whole of mankind. Rather than
abandon its dream, Western society has chosen to regard its present problems
not as signposts which must serve in the design of the future, but as
something serving to delay the onset of the age of leisure.
It is from within this latter framework that society now demands
relevance of its educational institutions. It requires its educational
institutions to cure its
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present ills, presuming that once cured, the
dream of leisure, of plenty, will become a reality.
Without doubt, tomorrow's world is not one of indolent leisure
and of material luxuries. To survive we shall have to use all the skills
and creative ability that mankind can collectively assemble. Tomorrow's
world will demand not only technological advances wildly beyond present
conception but equally great advances in the understanding of man himself.
It is doubtful if man can continue to change his environment to suit his
demands and still retain an environment in which he can survive. To a
greater degree, man will have to be concerned with his social and technical
adaptation to a world of declining natural resources and an increasing demand
by the population for equality or a "fair share" of these resources.
In the dismaying complexity of our unhappy society the all
pervasive preoccupation with the "now" is an incredibly dangerous situation.
While there are many "now" problems that demand attention, they can be
ameliorated or perhaps cured within the extent of our present knowledge
and need not be the (direct) concern of the universities. Other bodies,
both of higher education and outside the educational framework, are capable
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of supplying answers to these problems. It is with tomorrow's world that
our universities should be concerned. The university is mankind's "brain"
for future survival. We must allow our students to see possible futures,
to appreciate the past and its role in forming today and to graduate from
the university with creative, critical and enquiring minds.
A Philosophy for Simon Fraser University
The above arguments suggest an appropriate philosophy for this
University. Our education role requires that our students achieve a high
degree of personal and intellectual growth. Our research role requires that
we pursue a fuller understanding of man and his physical and sociological
environment and so achieve a better understanding of the future. These
must be the primary concerns of the entire University and must be integrated
into a whole in which the pursuit of excellence, the quest for meaningful
change and the recognition of the intellectual needsof the individual exist
as equal in merit.
Our first recommendation is:
1. that Simon Fraser University adopt the following statement as
its principal academic goal
"The education offered by Simon Fraser University shall
prepare individuals to cope with the future in all
aspects relevant to their existence."
To implement this goal, it is necessary to envision the characteristics
which might reasonably be expected to enable an individual to cope with the
future. We tentatively set forth the following list which, in our opinion,
covers the sought-after characteristics of such an individual.
Individuals capable of coping with the future in all aspects of
their existence will possess:
a) a personal centre of strength, resiliency and peace;
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b)
the intellectual skills to operate on data of any sort
according to rational principles free from or at least aware of personal
and local biases;
c)
an intellectual flexibility permitting adaptation to innovation
in all its aspects and ramifications;
d)
a broad knowledge of the major aspects of their own and other
cultures;
e)
a personal system of ethics; and
f)
a well-developed competence in an academic discipline.
Our Commitment to Professional Programs
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Our second and third recommendations would then be:
2.
That Simon Fraser University does not develop additional
professional schools but that within our own expertise and resources we
recognize and offer certain professionally oriented coursesand programs
in areas not covered adequately elsewhere, and
3.
That these professional programs and courses be placed
at the post bachelor's degree level.
Since the opening of Simon Fraser University in 1965, there have
been dramatic changes in the post-secondary educational scene in British
Columbia. The nine provincial regional colleges established in the last
nine years have taken a substantially increasing proportion of those
students proceeding direct from high school to some form of post-secondary
education.
Second, it is now clearly evident as it may not have been in 1965,
that the professional programs offered by the University of British Columbia,
the technological programs of BC.I.T. and the vocational programs of the
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regional colleges adequately meet the needs of the province. To the
extent to which they do not, we believe that the province would be much
better served by expanding the existing programs at these institutions
rather than developing similar programs at Simon Fraser University.
Our Commitment to the Community
We are also in a period where considerable changes are found
both in the types of persons wanting a post-secondary education and in
the type of education desired. Many more people are attending university.
They are of many more levels of academic ability and of academic preparation
than in earlier times, from many more cultural backgrounds, and with more
diverse career goals. The present first year of university is often more
productive for students with a better general background than that to which
the universitiesarticulated earlier. Many students with well defined academic
or occupational goals find first year university work to have little
relevance to these goals. Young people have also changed, they reach
philosophical and social maturity earlier and yet are often kept for a
longer period of time in a dependent status.
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Many of them
would like more options to try alternatives as they select their occupations
and their life styles and more chances to try out their productive/creative
skills in real life situations. In their view, productive effort stands
for independent status and a sense of personal worth. A formal education
stands for dependency. Productive effort also stands for
reality; formal
education too often stands for an artificial environment.
The university today supplies only a small portion of lifetime
knowledge and is, after all, only one of many sources of knowledge. Occupational
habits have changed. Rather than long extended formal education in advance;
more jobs require some basic skills and knowledge in advance arid thus a
willingness to keep on learning 40th, of course, opportunities to learn).
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Many occupations require, and will increasingly require, a periodic
formal updating of knowledge. In addition, more people experiment with
several occupations during their lifetime and need the opportunities to
learn new skills. Again, more people want more variety in their lives
and want continuing opportunities to acquire new skills and knowledge.
All in all, we cannot continue to regard a university education
as a rare and one time opportunity. The approach must not be as it once
was "everything now and never again". This being so, we RECOMMEND:
4.
That Simon Fraser University move quickly and responsively
to the offering of complete bachelor's degree programs in the Continuing
Education Program.
5.
That recognizing the potential of the community colleges
(in providing courses up to the second-year Bachelor's degree level) Simon
Fraser University construct its first two years of degree progransin a
manner dissimilar in philosophy to that found at these colleges or other
provincial universities.
The Structure of the Undergraduate Curriculum at Simon Fraser University
In these last two recommendations we suggest that just as
our trimester operation allows our students considerable flexibility in
when they take courses, the evening degree program would also be providing
greater flexibility
in
opportunity. We further suggest that rather than
regarding the community colleges as competitive (i.e. offering the same
students the same program) we should regard them as liberating us from
having to offer the traditional first two years' degree program. We can
then offer those students coming to Simon Fraser University a unique
educational experience during these first two years of a type that can be offered
only by our University.
We thus recommend:
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6. That the overall nature of the University's undergraduate
program be envisaged as a series of logical steps involving sequentially
the acquisition of a general background, training in a discipline, the
application of the discipline to a number of relevant subjects, and
the linking of disciplines via a focus on common problems.
Our rationale for offering this recommendation' for ordering the
undergraduate curriculum can be briefly stated. We believe that one of
the fundamental purposes of university undergraduate education must be to
deal with the modes of conceptualization, the principles of explanation
and the nature of verification. The emphasis in undergraduate education
must be less on what one knows and more on how one knows what one knows.
In our emphasis on method, one risks that sterile debate as to whether you can
teach method apart from subject matter.
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The answer is obviously
no. The shoe, however, is really on the other foot for
can
one teach a subject
without an awareness of method? In this respect, the distinctions between
conceptualization, discipline and subject matter should.be made clear. A "concept"
is a term that allows us to group together different phenomenon, or selected
aspects of phenomena, under a common rubric. A "discipline" consists of
a coherent group of interrelated concepts that can be applied to kindred
phenomena and that allow one to make theoretical or explanatory statements
about the relationship of these phenomena. A 'ubject matter' is a related
class of phenomena that can be analyzed by a particular discipline.
All of this leads to our basic proposition as stated above, i.e.
that this University's undergraduate education be envisioned as a series
of logical steps proceeding from the general and historical to the
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linking of disciplines in dealing with common problems.
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For the Future
There are many major topics that have been considered by this
Committee but upon which, given our time constraints, no recommendation
has been gin. If the sixrecommendations are found acceptable, one of
the first subsequent considerations must be the question of university "size".
Questions concerning the size of Simon Fraser University may be viewed
in two ways. First, we may like to consider that the University will
continue to grow indefinitely with no constraints on its maximum size.
Second, we may find it desirable to establish a maximumenrolment for
the University and to undertake future planning in all of its areas
with this constraint in mind. The original plans for the University
envisaged a maximum enrolment of 18,000 students; but it would scarcely
seem advisable to take this number on trust and to assume that the
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University will continue to expand until it has reached this or some
undefined higher figure. Furthermore, the establishment of some maximum
enrolment figure has implications for the admissions policies of the
University. Has the University a special responsibility to accept students
from the Lower Mainland even when their academic records are not competitive
with those of applicants admitted from elsewhere? If the number of
applicants in relation to places available increases, a policy of accepting
students "off the top" will cause our actual admission standards to rise.
Should this practice be changed? If so, on what basis?
The question of size has other implications as well. The historical
legacy of Simon Fraser University contains a number of assumptions. Among
them are the following:
1.
that a major proportion of the university's enrolment should
be at the undergraduate level.
2.
that small classes in which students can maintain close contact
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with their instructors is a better method of instruction than large lecture classes
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3. that the tutorial method is an effective method of
teaching undergraduates.
4. that all undergraduate teaching should be done through
the tutorial system.
These assumptions produce a heavy reliance on teaching assistants
which in turn creates a demand for the development of graduate
programs. The unavoidable conclusion is that the extent and size of the
University's graduate programs is in large part determined by the growth
of the undergraduate enrolment.
Our recommendations are based on the assumption that Simon
Fraser should continue to be primarily an undergraduate-university. We
are, however, not committed to any of the other assumptions enumerated above
and, in fact, recommend that each requires examination.' Once having been
examined and consonant decisions reached, it will then be possible to determine
the extent of the graduate enrolment within the overall enrolment of the
University.
Further, graduate programs at this University, have taken one of
two basic forms:
1.
a continuation of undergraduate work (by far the prevalent
mode) or
2.
a provision for professionals to return from work to obtain
further degrees in their areas of competence.
Again, we view this area as requiring examination with the objective of
determining the direction of subsequent development of graduate programs.
The attainment of a vigorous undergraduate program
in
itself poses
a number of related issues. Ourrecormiendations are intended to provide
Sall students during the first two undergraduate years with a "common core"
education characterized by breadth and integration, i.e. courses of
lateral interaction rather than the presently designed longitudinal modes.
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The implications of such a curriculum on the trimester Operation,
the Organization of faculties and departments and the transferability
of students to Simon Fraser will need to be examined further.
The proposal to develop evening programs leading to a bachelor's
degree challenges the existing division between the employment of faculty
for the regular daytime program of the University and those employed by the
Division of Continuing Education to teach courses offered during the evening,
largely on an overload basis. The implications of moving to an extended
university day, i.e. 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., in which there is no differentiation
between daytime and evening faculty should be considered.
We have recommended that the University free itself completely
(with the exception of the Faculty of Education) from professional programs
at the undergraduate level. Our expectation is, therefore, that the level
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of the undergraduate degree (at the end of Ibur years) should be equivalent
to the present majors level. Honors programs, which present a topic or
discipline in depth and lead to graduate and professional schools, should
be considered as part of a post first degree program. The continued
necessity or desire of offering both a general and honors degree program
at the undergraduate level should be examined.
