To ? 

Mr. ? 

H. ? 

M. ? 

Evans, 

?

From . ? 

D. ? 

H. ? 

Sullivan ...... Dean.,.... ...... ................ 

2 , fSenate . 

?

Faculty 

,

o ..Art . 

Subject U 

,

pperLevel Electives 

.

S .  . 447 

?

Date ... ..... ... Decembe .21, 

........................................ 

As requested at the Senate meeting of December 7, 

1970, the Faculty of Arts Curriculum Committee is 

enclosing herewith further documentation and rationale 

for its recommendation relative to 'credit towards the 

B.A. Degree for courses outside the Faculty of Arts'. 

The question being considered is what provisions 

can be made for prescribing elective requirements outside 

the Faculty of Arts. This question has been debated 

in the Arts Curriculum Committee over a period of 

several months. 

?

(A summary of the main points of 

discussion is attached as Addendum A.) A number of 

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ad hoc rules have been made to cover individual courses 

including PF 451, and the Individual Study Semesters 

in the Faculty of Education. ? 

(A summary of the action 

taken on the Individual Study Semester is attached as 

Addendum B, and on PF 451 attached at Addendum C.) 

There is an obvious need to clarify the Faculty 

of Arts policy on "outside" courses in the next edition 

of the Undergraduate Calendar, so that students and 

faculty advisors may plan programs accordingly. 

In outlining the policy for the Calendar entry, 

?

the Curriculum Committee was faced with two alternatives. 

The Curriculum Committee could accept 

the existing policy that had evolved 

from ad hoc rules, and indicate in the 

Calendar that 

"No credit would be allowed towards 

the Arts degree for 

and

the Individual Study courses 

and

and

and

C&A

and

.

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--)- 

This, however, would not cover the possibility of 

requests for credit towards the Arts degree for an 

Individual Study Semester course in the Faculty of 

Science, e.g. Biological Sciences Individual Study 

Semester course approved in the Senate meeting of 

November 9, 1970. Further, on the matter of 

Individual Study Semesters, it had not yet been 

resolved whether the Faculty of Arts in fact did not 

wish to allow credit for these courses. In Addendum B 

it can be seen that the ruling quoted above had resulted 

from no decision being made on the motion tabled in 

Senate on October 7, 1968 and again on November 12, 1968. 

With regard to PF 451, Senate had approved on 

September 14, 1970, in the new B.Ed. Degree program the 

elimination of PF 451 as a course effective April 30, 1971. 

To make mention of this course in the 71-72 Calendar was 

therefore no longer necessary. 

From the above, then, it can be seen that this 

alternative was not a satisfactory one. 

II

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The Curriculum Committee could alternatively 

propose a policy statement that would 

clarify once and for all the limitations on 

"outside" courses. After due deliberation, 

the Committee took this course of action. 

It considered all the courses that had been 

questioned in the past; i.e. the Individual 

Study Semesters, and in addition considered 

the courses that were replacing the PF courses 

that would be deleted from the course 

offerings in April, 1971. 

The Committee reaffirmed that it strongly favoured 

students in Arts receiving elective credit for any course 

in the University approved by Senate as a credit course. 

The definition of "elective" had always been interpreted 

by the Committee as any course of the student's choice 

outside his major subject area, and these electives 

could be selected from any of the groups of the University. 

On the other hand, a student pursuing a Bachelor of 

. ?

Arts degree should naturally concentrate his program of 

study in the Arts Faculty, in the same way that students 

pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree would take the 

majority of his courses in the Faculty of Science, and 

for the B.Ed. degree in the Faculty of Education. The 

Curriculum Committee therefore believes that a reasonable 

.

limitation should be placed on the number of hours of 

electives outside the Faculty of Arts. It seems 

reasonable that the number of electives the student may 

be allowed to take outside the Faculty in the upper levels 

should not exceed the number of electives taken within 

the Faculty of Arts; hence he limitation of 15 credit 

hours. It should be made clear that this limitation 

refers to electives as defined above; and if, for instance, 

the Major department reires a certain course in the 

Faculty of Education or the Faculty of Science, it would 

no longer be called an elective. Because no limitation 

has been specified to date, it is possible at present 

for a student to take 30 of his required 60 hours in the 

last four levels of his degree program outside the Faculty. 

While few cases have actually arisen where a student 

wishes to take 30 hours outside the Faculty of Arts, many 

students have wanted to take 20 and some 25 in, for 

instance, the Faculty of Education. 

The Curriculum Committee, after carefully considering 

• all the above points, recommended the following policy 

statement. This statement was approved by the Faculty 

of Arts by Referendum Ballot #20, dated November 4, 1970 

and was submitted to Senate for its approval in Paper S.447. 

"In the upper levels a student may take no 

more than 25 hours in the Faculty of 

Education and/or the Faculty of Science. 

Within these limitations a student may 

take any credit course approved by Senate 

at SFU as an elective in his Bachelor of 

Arts Degree." 

"Upper levels" 

refers to those credit hours accumulated 

after the completion of the first 60 hours to make a total 

of at least 120 hours for the General degree and at least 

132 hours for an Honors degree. For purposes of the 

Calendar entry, the first sentence of this policy statement 

was changed at a subsequent meeting of the Curriculum 

Committee to read: "An upper levels student may take 

If this policy statement is approved by Senate, it will 

appear in the appropriate section of the 71-72 Undergraduate 

Calendar. 

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It is understood in the above regulation that students 

may count towards their B.A.degree the 15-credit 

"Individual Study Semester" courses and all other 

Senate-approved credit courses offered by the Faculties 

of Education and Science providing they do not exceed 

the limitation of 15 hours outlined in the new 

regulation. This principle will, of course, exclude 

those courses credited towards the Professional Teaching 

Certificate only: EDN 401-8, 402-7, and 405-15. 

D. H. Sullivan, Dean, 

Faculty of Arts. 

MC/pt 